Focus on house-to-house survey, prompt testing: Health min to officials in hotspots

Focus on house-to-house survey, prompt testing: Health min to officials in hotspots
Passengers undergo thermal screening upon their arrival at Howrah station from New Delhi in a special train, during the fifth phase of COVID-19 nationwide lockdown, in Kolkata, June 6, 2020. Photo: PTI

New Delhi: The Union Health Ministry on Monday asked officials of 45 civic bodies across 38 districts in 10 states, which account for around 78 per cent of the country's total COVID-19 cases, to bolster house-to-house surveys, prompt testing and surveillance measures to contain the infection and reduce mortality.

The advisory to the high infection incidence districts came as the COVID-19 toll rose to 7,200 with 271 more deaths and the number of infections climbed to 2,56,611 in India after a record single-day spike for the sixth consecutive day with 9,983 new cases, according to the Health Ministry.

Health Secretary Preeti Sudan along with senior officers of the Health ministry held a high level review meeting, via video conference, with the district collectors, municipal commissioners, superintendent of district hospitals and principals of medical colleges from 45 municipal corporations.

The 38 districts are from Maharashtra, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Haryana, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh and are witnessing a surge in COVID-19 cases, officials said.

In view of the easing of lockdown and lifting of curbs, the states were advised to make a district-wise prospective plan for the coming months, the Health ministry said.

"These 45 municipalities and municipal corporations from 38 districts account for around 78 per cent of the total COVID-19 cases in the country," an official source said.

The cases are doubling faster in these areas and the positivity and the fatality rate are high, which is a major cause of concern, the source added.

Officials were also advised to ensure that labs return the testing results on time to ensure early identification and timely treatment of patients.

During the meeting, issues discussed include widespread infection in densely populated urban areas, with areas that shared public amenities, importance of house-to-house surveys, prompt testing, clinical management of cases and containment strategy which needs to be implemented, it said.

"The state officials were advised on the measures in the containment zones for case management and buffer zones surveillance activities and promotion of COVID appropriate behaviour," the ministry said.

To reduce the case fatality rate, officials were briefed on measures that include prioritising high-risk and vulnerable segments like elderly people and those with comorbidities while contact-tracing to prevent deaths.

They were also asked to focus on active surveillance measures, adequate testing and promoting health seeking behaviour for timely detection of cases.

The officials were also asked to ensure timely shifting of patients without escalating the symptoms, the ministry said.

The country has been registering over 9,000 cases of the coronavirus disease for the fifth day in a row.

There are 1,24,981 active cases while 1,24,429 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, the ministry said in its updated data at 8 am.

"Thus, 48.49 per cent patients have recovered so far," it said.

According to the ICMR, a total of 47,74,434 samples have been tested till 9 am on June 8, with 1,08,048 samples have been tested in the last 24 hours.

Of the 271 more deaths, 91 were in Maharashtra, 51 in Delhi, 30 in Gujarat, 18 each in Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, 14 in Telangana, 13 each in West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, nine in Rajasthan, four in Haryana, two each in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand, and one each in Odisha and Punjab.

India is the fifth worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic after the US, Brazil, Russia and the UK, according to the Johns Hopkins University data.

At the video conference meeting, the health ministry said infrastructure and human resource management for containment of COVID-19 was also discussed.

The Health Ministry said proper planning for health infrastructure should be taken up, adequate number of surveillance teams should be provided and a system should be put in place for bed availability management.

Centres of Excellence can provide hand-holding for medical professionals, it said and added that senior officers should be deployed for hospitals to offer help to citizens to find health services as per their need.

On field governance, municipal authorities were advised to take leadership and put the entire municipal infrastructure for containment measures using the 'whole of government approach'.

The ministry also highlighted that along with COVID-19 management efforts, care needs to be given to regular and essential health services that are also available for the citizens.

Officials were asked to focus on areas like active house-to-house survey for timely detection, augmentation of the survey teams, efficient ambulance management, efficient triaging of patients at the hospitals and bed management, clinical management of the hospitalised cases through rotational 24x7 teams to ensure reduction in the fatality rates, the ministry said in the statement.

It was also suggested that elected representatives in the rural areas should be involved to help cooperate with district health authorities to build confidence and timely accessing available health services.

The comments posted here/below/in the given space are not on behalf of Onmanorama. The person posting the comment will be in sole ownership of its responsibility. According to the central government's IT rules, obscene or offensive statement made against a person, religion, community or nation is a punishable offense, and legal action would be taken against people who indulge in such activities.