Over 5 crore households surveyed to map Corona spread: Mamata
Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, taking her relentless fight forward against the Corona pandemic, said the state government has been undertaking door-to-door surveillance that will continue till COVID-19 is beaten in Bengal. Already, more than five crore households have been covered in the drive.
"The surveillance efforts are ongoing and we will not stop till we together defeat Corona in Bengal," a post by the Chief Minister on her Facebook page on Tuesday read. She also said the surveillance will give "early warning signals" which are crucial in curbing the spread of COVID-19.
"Massive door-to-door surveillance has been ongoing since the past one month to identify Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) & Influenza-like Illness (ILI) cases across West Bengal.
"This Herculean effort has been undertaken by 60,000 specially trained ASHA & health workers non-stop for the past 4 weeks. The surveillance gives us early warning signals and is an important proactive step in fighting COVID19.
"During the period of 7th April to 3rd May, 5.57 Cr+ total household visits have been conducted. 872 cases of persons with SARI & 91,515 cases of persons with ILI have been identified and given necessary health advice. 375 people have also been admitted to different health facilities. 62 of them have tested positive for COVID-19 with the affected being treated at our Hospitals," the post also mentioned.
She maintained that between April 7 and May 3, a total of 5.57 crore household visits have been conducted by trained ASHA and healthcare workers during which at least 872 persons with Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) and 91,515 persons with Influenza-like Illness (ILI) have been identified and given necessary health advice. Three hundred and seventy-five people have also been admitted to different health facilities. Sixty-two of them have tested positive for COVID-19, and have been treated in the various hospitals.
Moreover, all the ASHA and healthcare workers who are engaged in this job have been brought under the Health insurance scheme worth Rs 10 lakh till May 30.
Meanwhile, the Bengal government conducted 2,455 tests in the past 24 hours taking the total number to 27,571 till date while the death toll stands at 68 with seven in the past 24 hours. The total number of positive cases in the state at present is 1,344.
With sincere efforts of the state government, the number of tests in Bengal has gone up manifold and with an increase in the number of laboratories at present, tests per million population is 306. Percentage of positive cases out of samples tested is 4.87.
While providing the COVID-19 related data on Tuesday, Home Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay said: "As many as 85 people tested positive in the past 24 hours. So far 1,344 people have got infected to the disease while 940 of them are at present undergoing treatment."
Till Tuesday, 264 people were discharged after they got cured of the disease and the discharge rate stands at 19.64 per cent.
In Tuesday's COVID-19 health bulletin, the state Health and Family Welfare department has mentioned both the total number of deaths due to COVID-19 and co-morbidity. It has been stated that so far, deaths due to COVID-19 is 68 and deaths due to co-morbidity is 72. There are at present 4,712 people in government quarantine and 5,561 in home quarantine. Till date, 16,727 and 64,625 people have been released from government quarantine and home quarantine respectively.
The state government has started giving COVID-19 health bulletin in a new format from Monday after ironing out all gaps related to the figures by ensuring the update of real-time data. In connection with the issue of difference in data between the Centre and that of the state, the Home Secretary added: "The state government is ensuring truthful and transparent sharing of data."
In connection with containment zones in the state, the Home Secretary said it will change dynamically and district administration has been directed to keep updating the changes.
