1,210 UP villagers found Covid+

LUCKNOW : In all, 1,210 people have tested positive for Covid in villages across the state as the health department teams conducted tests on 68,900 villagers under the ongoing special drive in rural areas in the last 24 hours.

“With the help of village nigrani simitis (monitoring committees), people living in villages are being contacted to screen them for Covid symptoms. The rapid response teams are conducting antigen tests if Covid symptoms are found in any of them,” said Navneet Sehgal, additional chief secretary, information, at a press conference on Saturday.

“In all, 48,63,298 houses have been screened. There are over 97,000 villages in the state where health teams are visiting. Those whose rapid antigen test report is negative but they have Covid symptoms are also being given medical kit,” he added.

177 test positive in Gorakhpur villages

In Gorakhpur, 177 villagers tested positive for SARSCoV-2 (the virus that causes the Covid-19 disease) through rapid antigen tests. Overall, rapid response teams identified 4,857 villagers in grip of fever in 404 villages of Gorakhpur within three days since the launch of the drive.

Besides, samples were also collected at the primary health centres and community health centres from 900 villagers with Covid-like symptoms. The test reports of several villagers were awaited, said a district health department officer.

Dr AK Singh, the district nodal officer for the drive, said the campaign will continue in the villages till May 9.