Bhubaneswar: Door-to-door surveillance of COVID-19 symptoms in all households in rural areas and slums in urban areas in Odisha will be conducted from June 16 to July 31.
National Health Mission (NHM) Director Shalini Pandit on Monday said all COVID-19 suspects in the state would be tested. “ASHA and ANM workers have been tasked with surveillance in these areas and identifying such cases,” she said.
She further said that the Odisha government is testing symptomatic persons and close contacts of positive cases in accordance with the ICMR guidelines. “When a person in a slum in Bhubaneswar tested positive for the deadly virus, 250 more people were made to undergo the test and were found to be negative. We will ensure that all symptomatic persons and close contacts of positive cases are tested for COVID-19 without fail,” she said.
Pandit said that this strategy has helped in detecting more cases. “Earlier when asymptotic persons were being tested, one among 200 of them was found to be infected. Now, one in every 20 symptomatic cases is testing positive for the virus,” she said.
The NHM director said that they have been able to isolate these cases and provide them with proper treatment because of which the death rate (00.3 per cent) in Odisha has remained low while the recovery rate is as high as 67 per cent.
“We have so far conducted 2 lakh tests. Tests per million in the state is higher than India average. Positivity rate per lakh population in the state is 9.3 per cent compared to Maharashtra (88 per cent), Delhi (205 per cent) and the national average of 25 per cent,” she said, allying fear among people about rising COVID-19 cases in Odisha.
Pandit said that testing for COVID-19 began in February in one laboratory, where two to three tests were conducted in a day. “Now, we have 17 labs in 10 districts. In the coming days, more labs will be added to the list. These labs are not confined to Khurda, Cuttack and Ganjam but are in far-flung areas like Mathili block in Malkangiri,” she added.
