Screening in Haryana villages on war footing

With Covid-19 spreading roots in rural areas of Haryana, screening of all families living in rural areas of Haryana is on war footing as around 8,000 school teachers, anganwadi workers, asha workers and health department officials have been assigned the task to trace infected persons from every village

With Covid-19 spreading roots in rural areas of Haryana, screening of all families living in rural areas of Haryana is on war footing as around 8,000 school teachers, anganwadi workers, asha workers and health department officials have been assigned the task to trace infected persons from every village.

Figures of the Haryana health department show that screening of all villages have helped trace 1,511 positive cases, 24,084 people were found to have influenza-like illness or ILI, and 16,787 have been reported at village isolation centres. (HT Photo)

Figures of the Haryana health department show that screening of all villages have helped trace 1,511 positive cases, 24,084 people were found to have influenza-like illness or ILI, and 16,787 have been reported at village isolation centres.

Between May 15 and 18, screening of around 21.6 lakh people was done in 3,011 villages. Total 486 villages have been screened in Ambala district, followed by 373 in Kurukshetra, 341 in Palwal, 260 in Fatehabab, 256 in Jhajjar.

Officials visited every household and screened all members of every family by recording their body temperature, SpO2 level, BP, previous medical history, co-morbidity and Covid-like symptoms including cough, cold and fever.

In case any person is found with Covid symptoms, they inform the health department and such people are isolated immediately and taken for Covid test.

“Screening of all villagers is a huge task and we have to do it to trace the infected persons to protect entire families from getting infected,” said asha worker Rani Devi, of Karnal district.

These village-level teams are also concerned about their own safety as they have to meet all people including those who have symptoms to get their details.

“The work is risky as most people in villages hesitate to reveal if they have any symptoms. But as per government guidelines, we take proper care to protect ourselves and our families from the infection,” said an anganwadi worker, requesting anonymity.

Kurukshetra chief medical officer Sant Lal Verma said these officials have been asked to follow Covid protocol strictly and have been provided all required facilities for their protection.

Ground level officials said the number of positive cases traced in screening is low but this will help cut spread of the infection. In screening of 21.60 lakh people in rural areas, so far, only 1,511 have been tested positive and the highest 335 were reported from Karnal, followed by 239 in Rohtak, 141 in Sonepat, and 104 in Panchkula.

Haryana health minister Anil Vij told HT that screening in villages is going on war footing and every necessary step is being taken to curb spread of the virus in rural areas.

As per health department officials, the number of positive cases from this screening is poor, but screening in villages was necessitated as Covid cases were reported in many villages.