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Ghaziabad: Phone survey finds only 14 Covid-19 cases since June 1, residents concerned
A district-level survey being conducted by booth-level officers (BLOs) has found only 14 positive Covid-19 cases till August 18 since its launch on June 1. The outcome
A district-level survey being conducted by booth-level officers (BLOs) has found only 14 positive Covid-19 cases till August 18 since its launch on June 1. The outcome of the survey conducted over the phone, whose findings were shared by the district administration, has prompted residents to raise concerns over the way it is being conducted as the tally of coronavirus (Covid-19) cases continues to rise sharply in Ghaziabad.
According to the data shared by the administration, the survey spanned over 431,341 households and covered 1,889,043 residents. The survey which is tasked with identifying cases with symptoms of influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) found only 1,149 suspected cases of Covid-19 taking the positivity rate (with respect to the survey) to just 1.21%.
District officials said the survey is conducted by the BLOs through a telephonic communication with the local population under their jurisdiction.
“The results of the survey by BLOs is almost negligible considering the district is reporting 80 to 100 positive cases daily currently. There is no use of deploying such a huge workforce if the results are not credible. The workforce can be put to more productive works.More importantly many residents including my neighbours and have neither received any calls under the survey,” said colonel (retired) TP Tyagi, president of flat owners’ federation.
In Ghaziabad, on an average 100 cases are being reported daily in the month of August. The cases are detected through tests conducted at static booths, mobile vans, random camps and also through testing by surveillance teams deployed in containment zones.
With 81 new cases in the last-24 hours, Ghaziabad has 6,955 Covid-19 cases with a test positivity rate of 4.93% on August 20.
As many as 3,048 BLOs are engaged in the survey, with 237 supervisors who are usually teachers, shiksha mitras (contractual teachers).
“The results by the telephonic survey are of little or no use. Door-to-door surveys are much better considering that teams can meet residents in person. If the survey result is low and can’t detect many cases, there is no point in wasting the workforce’s time,” said VK Mittal, president of Kaushambi Apartment RWAs (resident welfare association).
When asked about the low outcome of the survey, district magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey said, “The survey by BLOs is an additional initiative taken up by the administration in order to zero in on suspected cases. The teams are in touch with people over the phone in order to find out about ILI and SARI cases. The survey will continue.”
A previous district-level survey, conducted on directions of the UP government from July 2 to July 12, had yielded better results with the detection of 150 positive cases after surveying a population of 38 lakh people in ten days.
In contrast to the survey by BLOs, the survey by surveillance teams in containment zones has also produced better results. According to official records shared by the administration, the surveillance teams surveyed 501,449 households and identified 500 suspected cases between July 17 and August 17, and 57 persons were found positive for the infection.
“The low results survey by the BLOs is primarily because residents don’t cooperate with them, and usually do not disclose correct information about people in the family having symptoms. The teams which include our teachers are working diligently even as the results are low,” said Anuj Tyagi, state secretary of UP Prathmik Shiksha Sangh—a union of primary school teachers.
