Door-to-door survey deadline extended

nNEW DELHI: The central government on Monday extended the deadline for the door-to-door health survey in Delhi’s containment zones from June 30 to July 6, which will be followed by a similar door-to-door screening for the rest of the city, a senior official of the Union home ministry said.

“Door to door survey will be done first in containment zones on a priority basis by July 6. The date has been extended as the number of containment zones have increased to 435. This will be followed by door to door screening in the entire Delhi,” said a senior official in the home ministry.

Both the exercises are part of a set of recommendations by Union home minister Amit Shah who had chaired a Covid-19 review meeting with Delhi lieutenant governor Anil Baijal and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on June 21.

The recommendations were notified by the directorate general of health services in Delhi through an order on June 22, which said that the survey in containment zones had to be completed by June 30 and a “comprehensive survey” for the rest of the city had to be completed by July 6.

The order, however, did not specify when the two exercises should start nor did it specify a standard operating procedure (SOP) on how the surveys are to be done, which led to confusion among several district officials, said a senior Delhi government official.

By Monday, the number of containment zones in the city had also shot up to 435 from 280 till three days ago, under a fresh delineation strategy, which too was part of Shah’s recommendations and notified through the same order.

A Delhi government official welcomed the decision to extend the deadlines. “There was resource crunch and a lack of clear directions,” he said.