Delhi Govt Asks DCs To Start COVID-19 Survey Outside Containment Zones
NEW DELHI : A door-to-door survey to screen the national capital’s population for coronavirus “may not be suitable” at this juncture, said a report jointly prepared by the AAP administration, Union Ministry of Health, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and NITI Aayog.
Earlier this week, the Union Home Ministry had said door-to-door survey would be completed in coronavirus containment zones of Delhi by July 6, followed by a similar exercise across the national capital.
Meanwhile, The Delhi government has directed district magistrates to start COVID-19 survey outside containment zones, focusing on vulnerable sections in areas with sporadic cases, sources said on Saturday.
“The focus on areas with isolated cases will ensure greater effectiveness of the survey as a general door-to-door approach will require more time and resources,” the source said. The survey has been planned according to the directions of the central government, they said.
“Now, the survey will be expanded in its scope beyond containment zones, focusing in areas where isolated cases have been reported. Vulnerable people who live in such areas will be priority as they are likely to catch infections rather more frequently,” a source said.
The door-to-door survey in containment zones was near complete when the home ministry issued its direction on last Monday. Now, the survey outside containment zones will seek to identify people having influenza like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) and the high risk individuals having co-morbidity.
The second part of the plan has now been tweaked and the Delhi government has directed district magistrates to start COVID-19 survey outside containment zones, focusing on vulnerable sections in areas with sporadic cases.
As per the modified approach, the population and localities of Delhi would be divided into three categories – containment zones (over 420 at present), areas with isolated cases and areas which are yet to report any infections or “free areas”.
Increased surveillance in the containment zones and contact tracing assessment with the help of Aarogya Setu and ITIHAS apps are the components of the revised strategy. The modified survey also seeks to identify people having influenza like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) and the high risk individuals having comorbidity.
The report said that the door-to-door surveys may hamper ongoing contact tracing in high risk areas and containment zones. Already a large population is part of the internal surveillance due to the additional containment zones and it covers almost all cluster cases which is about 43% of all cases, said the report.
Hundreds of teams were formed to carry out the mammoth exercise of the door-to-door survey in Delhi. Armed with a mobile application -SS Corona- the teams were collecting information such as an individual’s travel history, whether or not they use the Centre’s Aarogya Setu app and if they have symptoms of influenza.
Delhi has 97, 200 COVID-19 cases while 3,004 people have died due to symptoms related to the disease, according to a health department bulletin last evening.
Apart from basic details like name, age, address and contact number, the teams are feeding the mobile application with information such as every individual’s travel history, whether or not they use the Centre’s Aarogya Setu app and if they have symptoms of influenza.
