Residents of most Howrah high-rises reluctant to allow surveyors step inside complex to conduct door-to-door survey

Kolkata: Conducting door-to-door surveys to get information about people suffering from fever has become a formidable problem as the residents of most high rises in Howrah are not allowing civic staff to enter the premises.

Similar problem was also faced by health workers of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) in the city.

This comes when total active cases in the district was 869 with 27 people getting infected to COVID-19 on Tuesday.

As per the bulletin of the state Health department, five people died due to the disease on Tuesday taking the total death toll to 119 in the district till date. At present there are 56 containment zones in Howrah including 19 in Howrah Municipal Corporation (HMC) area.

In a bid to identify a person suffering from COVID-19, stress was given on door-to-door visits to collect information whether any person is suffering from fever of COVID-19 like symptoms.

As it helps in checking much spread of the disease. The health workers of the HMC are carrying out the door-to-door surveillance in the urban part of the district while ASHA workers carrying out the same in its rural

parts.

But the health workers of the civic body have been facing problems in carrying out the same in high rises and residential complexes as they are not allowed to enter the premises at many places.

Instead they are asked to contact a resident of a complex over phone from the main gate, said an official.

The health workers in the grassroot level have informed their superiors that such an attitude of the section of residents of high rises is hampering all their effort because by the time a person is getting identified he or she has already infected at least 10 to 12 more people.

Necessary steps are being taken to carry out proper door-to-door surveillance in high rises as well.