3,000 BLOs roped in to track Covid-19 cases in Noida and Ghaziabad

GHAZIABAD: To track the Covid-19 patients in Noida and Ghaziabad the two administrations has roped in Block Level Officers(BLO) whose job will be to make random calls as per electoral list of the area. The BLOs will look for any Covid-19 symptoms among the populace and will alert the health department if found. They will also counsel patients and will guide them to get tests done.
In Ghaziabad 3048 BLOs and 237 supervisors have been pressed into service for the purpose. “The primary job of the BLOs would be conduct door to door surveys to look for Covid-19 symptoms among populace, the BLOs will also create awareness about the pandemic and will distribute pamphlets” said Ajay Shankar Pandey, district magistrate, Ghaziabad.
“In case BLOs come across any patients with Covid-19 symptoms he will immediately inform the health department and in the meantime assist them in getting tests done” added Pandey.
BLOs job will also entail keeping in constant touch with patients and influential persons in the locality which will keep tab on movement of Covid-19 patients under home isolation.
Out of total 3,048 BLOs called in for the job, 1,963 are in Ghaziabad city, 587 in Modinagar and 498 in Loni. “The BLOs would make use of electoral rolls in tracking down Covid-19 patients,” said Pandey.
Much before the Ghaziabad administration came up with the idea of roping in BLOs it had initiated a door to door survey a month ago. “We had initiated door to door survey a month ago with the help of other agencies in which very limited BLOs were involved but even the we got desired result so it has been decided that BLOs would be pressed into service in a full fledged manner,” said Pandey who informed that in the last one month through door to door survey they managed to track 826 Covid-19 cases in the city.
“Between July 1-31 we had touched 3,04,693 people through our door to door survey in rural and urban areas which mostly covered 80% of the district population but with active involvement of 3,000 plus BLOs we are aiming at covering rest of the population and this will continue till the situation improves,” said Pandey.