Over 2,300 govt staffers at forefront of Covid fight in Gurugram to be tested

Some 2,300 employees of the district health department, who have been on ground 24X7 since February 19 when their leaves were cancelled due to the global pandemic,

Some 2,300 employees of the district health department, who have been on ground 24X7 since February 19 when their leaves were cancelled due to the global pandemic, will now be tested for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) over the next few days. Their RT-PCR testing will be done alongside routine screening and testing of citizens, especially those in the 24 containment zones.

HT Image

On Friday, the department screened 60 government employees in Mini Secretariat, out of which 20 people gave their samples for Covid-19 testing. The team took swabs from nose and throat for Real Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) after the antibody test for community surveillance was put on hold by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) following inaccuracies citied by different states.

“Besides the routine surveillance and sample collection, we are now reaching out to government employees and workers who have been working at the forefront. Government employees are exposed to multiple people as they visit different areas,” said Dr Jaswant Singh Punia, chief medical officer.

Starting with district administration employees in Mini Secretariat, the team will cover judiciary, Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) and police personnel.

“While testing the government employees and people from judiciary we will be covering more than 2,500 people. For police personnel, we are preparing a plan to cover them in phases as the workforce is huge and their working cannot be disturbed,” Dr Anuj Garg, a rapid response team member, said, adding that the process will continue till next week.

PVT SECTOR AID

Helping the health team is an online pharmacy company which has provided a van for sample collection and a lab technician.

“We have been given 10,000 VTM (viral transport kits) by the company for collecting the swabs of government workers. The samples of identified persons with flu-like illness were easily collected inside the van,” said Dr Garg.

These samples will be sent to PGIMS-Rohtak for testing.

According to Punia, journalists who were earlier tested through antibody kits will now be tested through RT-PCR. On Tuesday, the health team tested 30 journalists and 36 people from the Sohna containment zone by using rapid testing kits. All the tests were negative.

In Gurugram, 47 cases have been reported till now, of which 35 have been discharged, while 12 are undergoing treatment. No new Covid-19 case was reported from the city on Friday.