Screening in Haryana villages on war footing

KARNAL: With Covid spreading roots in rural areas, screening of all families living in such areas of Haryana is on war footing as around 8,000 schoolteachers, anganwadi workers, Asha workers and health department officials have been assigned the task to trace infected persons.

Figures of the Haryana health department show that screening of all villages have helped trace 1,511 positive cases, 24,084 people were found to have influenza-like illness, and 16,787 have been reported at isolation centres. Between May 15 and 18, screening of around 21.6 lakh people was done in 3,011 villages. Total 486 villages have been screened in Ambala district, followed by 373 in Kurukshetra, 341 in Palwal, 260 in Fatehabab, 256 in Jhajjar.

Officials visited every household and screened all members of every family by recording their vitals. “Screening of all villagers is a huge task and we have to do it to trace the infected persons to protect entire families from getting infected,” said asha worker Rani Devi, of Karnal.

These village-level teams are also concerned about their own safety.

Kurukshetra chief medical officer Sant Lal Verma said these officials have been asked to follow Covid protocol strictly and have been provided all required facilities for their protection.

Ground level officials said the number of positive cases traced in screening is low but this will help cut spread of the infection. In screening of 21.60 lakh people in rural areas, so far, only 1,511 have been tested positive and the highest 335 were reported from Karnal, followed by 239 in Rohtak, 141 in Sonepat, and 104 in Panchkula.

Haryana health minister Anil Vij said every necessary step is being taken to curb spread of the virus in rural areas.