Health condition and travel history of all families in Odisha’s Ganjam district would be checked through a three-day-long mega health screening programme to identify persons having symptoms related to COVID-19.
The programme will start from Thursday morning and end on April 11. It is the first district in the State to take up such a major health screening programme that will reach each and every citizen of the district. Ganjam is the most populous district in Odisha with around seven lakh families, having a population of around 40 lakh.
According to Ganjam Collector Vijay Amruta Kulange, the programme will be taken up in rural and urban areas. This door-to-door screening will be done on war footing in over 6,000 revenue villages of 22 blocks as well as 18 urban bodies of the district, including the Berhampur Municipal Corporation area. Each anganwadi service area will be taken as a single unit for the survey. A three-member team — the anganwadi worker, her helper and a teacher — will visit each household to collect the information.
Basic information
Through a questionnaire, basic information about the family and its members, their present health condition nad travel history will be collected. There will be extra stress on locating persons with symptoms of cold, cough, fever along with information about those who have returned from abroad or other parts of the country. Such persons will be under focus of the administration. If needed, they will be tested for possible COVID-19 infection.
Till now, no COVID-19 positive case has been reported from Ganjam district. As per the official information, till now 761 persons have returned to the district from foreign countries. Similarly, 28,098 persons have returned to their homes in Ganjam from different States. These include migrant workers, who have returned from Kerala, Maharashtra and Gujarat.