Noida: Covid-19 surveillance begins in district, 90% of daily target hit on first day

The 10-day long special coronavirus testing drive that began in all six districts of Meerut division on Thursday, reached almost 90% of its daily sampling target

The 10-day long special coronavirus testing drive that began in all six districts of Meerut division on Thursday, reached almost 90% of its daily sampling target in Gautam Budh Nagar district on its inaugural day, officials said.

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Against the target of collecting 4,000 samples per day, as many as 3,618 samples were collected during the drive on Thursday which was kicked off jointly by Narendra Bhooshan, the chief executive officer of Greater Noida, police commissioner Alok Singh, and district magistrate Suhas LY, from Haroula in Sector 5.

Under the drive, testing is mostly done using on-site rapid antigen kits and lab-based reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests. The district magistrate said that during the 10-day drive, all the tests conducted within the districts will be considered as part of the special initiative.

“The achievement on the inaugural day of the drive is overwhelming. Out of 2,037 samples collected through rapid antigen kits on Thursday, 54 samples tested positive. Our teams have also collected 1,591 samples through RT-PCR tests and their results will come in a few days. Apart from this, 10 samples have also been taken through TrueNat machines, of which no one was tested positive,” the DM said.

The DM said with the help of 1,500 surveillance teams and 40 sample collection teams formed for the special drive, the district will soon reach its target of collecting 4,000 samples a day. Each surveillance team, which comprises three civil volunteers and at least one ASHA or other auxiliary health worker, conducts door-to-door surveys to collect information on people with symptoms of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). “ We have assigned 40 teams – each comprising one doctor, one nursing staff and one assistant – to collect samples of people with Covid-19 symptoms,” the DM said.

The DM further said that around 600 student volunteers are also participating in awareness campaigns under the drive. “Volunteers from National Service Scheme (NSS), Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan, and National Cadet Corps (NCC) are also taking part in this drive. However, none of these volunteers will work on the frontline and their primary work would entail putting up posters outside the houses of positive patients and their direct contacts. For the screening purpose, we have deputed over 1,500 surveillance teams,” he said.

The DM also said that the district health department is adapting the plan used to eradicate polio in its surveillance measures for the drive. “The pulse polio micro plan is a tested campaign with instructions from the World Health Organization. The features of the plan include pro-active surveillance of the population, estimating resources, recording and reporting cases, and strict monitoring. Till now, patients used to inform the district administration of their symptoms following which they would be tested. But under this new plan, we’ll reach out to every household and monitor every case,” he said.

Under the drive, the DM said, that the surveillance teams will mark every screened household with the letter ‘S’ followed by the date when the occupants were screened. “ If someone is found suffering from prolonged illness or symptoms of influenza-like illness (ILI) or severe acute respiratory illness (SARI), the surveillance team will immediately inform the health officials to test them for Covid-19. If found positive, the patients will be admitted to isolation wards in different hospitals,” he said.

The state government had planned the special drive for Meerut division after around 28% of the total Covid-19 related deaths were reported from the region.

Till Thursday, out of the total 735 Covid-19 fatalities in the state, Meerut division has reported 207 deaths, including 87 in Meerut, 57 in Ghaziabad, 22 in Gautam Budh Nagar, 22 in Bulandshahr, 14 in Hapur and five in Baghpat.

According to the instructions given by the state government, a daily target of collecting 4,000 samples each has been set Gautam Budh Nagar and Ghaziabad districts. Among other districts of the division, 3,000 samples will be taken every day in Meerut, while 1,600 samples will be tested in Bulandshahr, Baghpat and Hapur districts.

Meanwhile, 116 fresh cases of Covid-19 were reported in the past 24 hours in the district, taking the overall count to 2,477 cases. District chief medical officer (CMO) Dr Deepak Ohri said 1,526, including three people discharged on Thursday, have recovered from the disease so far. “So far, 22 Covid-19 positive patients have so far lost their lives. As a result, the district now has 929 active cases,” he said.

According to the daily Covid-19 bulletin released on Thursday by the state headquarters in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh had a total of 24,825 Covid-19 cases, including 817 new cases reported in the last 24 hours.