A house-to-house Covid-19 survey in Delhi screened more that 3.70 lakh city residents on the first day in order to find out the real picture vis-a-vis the prevalence of the deadly disease, official sources said on Sunday.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that 3,70,729 persons were surveyed on Saturday during the screening, which will conclude on November 25.
The screening exercise involving coordination between the MHA and Delhi Government was undertaken to check people for signs of flu such as fever, sore throat, cough and to seek their travel history.
The aim is to identify people with Covid-like symptoms, and create a comprehensive database and then get them tested.
The plan for the survey was taken was in a high-level meeting on November 15 between Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal with officials concerned in the wake of increasing Covid-19 cases in the national capital.
District officials have roped in civil defence volunteers, accredited social health activists (Asha), auxiliary nurse midwife workers, booth-level officials and municipal staff, including licensing inspectors and sanitation workers — apart from the government health workers who have experience on the job — in the survey.
After the November 15 meeting, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) increased RT-PCR testing capacity from 27,000 tests per day to 37,200 on Shah’s directions. A total of 30,735 RT-PCR samples were collected in Delhi on November 19 compared with 12,055 RT-PCR samples on November 15.
Shah had said that the ICMR and the Delhi government must work together to increase the RT-PCR testing capacity to 60,000 tests by November-end.
Covid-19 cases in Delhi started to rise after October 20. In the week ending November 14, Delhi recorded previously unseen levels of new cases, as daily fatalities hovered close to 100 a day.
Following the inputs from Delhi, the Home Minister had reviewed the situation in the wake of spike in Covid-19 cases, assuring to provide 750 more ICU beds to Delhi and many more steps to fight the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Delhi has reported 5,23,117 coronavirus cases so far, including 4,68,143 recoveries and 8,270 deaths. As per the latest 24-hour data, 5,879 more corona patients were detected in Delhi.
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