Survey outside red zones to spot people at high risk of Covid-19 infection

According to a Delhi government report also submitted to the MHA on July 12, of the 11 districts in Delhi, 165 localities are in southeast district — a population of roughly 1,800,000. The central district has identified 50 such localities where the aim is to cover as many as 1,843,836 people.

The city’s district administrations are conducting surveys in at least 682 areas outside containment zones that house over six million people, to identify “high-risk” persons and those with symptoms of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), senior government officials said.

A health worker collects a swab sample from a child for coronavirus testing, at a Delhi Government Dispensary, in Basant Gaon, New Delhi on Thursday. (Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)

The localities have been identified after the director-general of health services (DGHS) on July 9 issued modified guidelines for Covid-19 surveillance in the city. The 682 localities are mostly areas around containment zones, as well as those reporting isolated Covid-19 cases for 28 days or more. The localities also include areas that have seen infrequent isolated cases irrespective of the number of days.

“The district administrations have collectively reported that a total of 6,533,724 persons reside in these 682 localities identified across Delhi. Around 40,000-50,000 persons are being screened every day across the city in these localities. The aim of this survey is to identify symptomatic and high-risk individuals, most of who are then administered rapid antigen tests,” said a senior government official.

According to a Delhi government report also submitted to the MHA on July 12, of the 11 districts in Delhi, 165 localities are in southeast district — a population of roughly 1,800,000. The central district has identified 50 such localities where the aim is to cover as many as 1,843,836 people. The west district administration has identified 97 localities in which 13,198 persons reside, the lowest of all districts.

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Till July 6, the government had kept its door-to-door survey restricted to the containment and buffer zones in Delhi. It was decided on July 9 survey would be expanded beyond containment zones.

“The survey within the city’s 658 containment zones is a continuous process and is going simultaneously along with the survey of areas outside the hotspots. In containment zones, over 375,822 people are being covered,” said a second official from the government’s revenue department.

Both surveys are continuous processes and do not have fixed deadlines, officials said.

For the surveys, over 13,000 booth-level officers (BLOs), health officials and Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) have been deployed. Health-related data concerning all family members in each household is fed into a mobile application linked to a dashboard maintained by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), which is chaired by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal. Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is DDMA’s vice-chairperson.

High-risk individuals are defined as those who have been in contact with Covid-19 patients, people aged over 60, pregnant women, people with severe acute respiratory illnesses, people with influenza-like illnesses and individuals with comorbidities, which may include diabetes, cardiovascular ailments, hypertension and kidney-related issues, a senior government official said.

“In areas with isolated cases, the district surveillance officers (DSOs) have also been asked to review localities that have been regularly reporting cases for over 14 days by mapping cases in terms of time and geographic location. Epidemiological situation analysis and tracking the transmission chains are also being done by the districts in this case,” a health department official said.

Apart from the survey, district authorities are also conducting tests among ‘special surveillance groups’ (SSG) comprising rickshaw/auto, taxi, goods carriage and lorry drivers, domestic helps, daily workers (plumbers, electricians, carpenters, etc) and daily suppliers of food, general stores and delivery persons.

The media advisor to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal did not respond to requests for comment.