This story is from May 9, 2020

Over 10 cr people screened across 20 dists in state

Over 10 cr people screened across 20 dists in state
PATNA: The state health department has carried out door-to-door screening of over 10 crore people covering 20 districts in the state as part of its ambitious programme to check for Covid-19 symptoms in people on the lines of the pulse polio programme.
According to Sanjay Kumar, principal secretary (health), altogether 3,848 people have been found with symptoms of fever with cough and shortness of breath during the screening carried out in Araria, Arwal, Banka, Begusarai, Bhojpur, Buxar, Gaya, Gopalganj, Jamui, Khagaria, Lakhisarai, Madhepura, Nalanda, Nawada, Rohtas, Saharsa, Saran Sheikhpura, Siwan and Vaishali.

Of the 3,848 people screened, 3,391 showed symptoms of fever, cough and breathlessness despite not having travelled outside the state recently. The rest 419 with symptoms had returned from other states and 38 of them had returned from abroad.
State Covid-19 nodal officer Dr Ragini Mishra said, “The door-to-door screening campaign has helped the health department identify suspected cases. Not only is it helping us to take early precautions, it is also creating awareness among people.”
Health department officials said at least 8,000 teams engaged with the polio programme and more than 20,000 health personnel are involved in the massive drive, which will cover all 38 districts.
“Special attention has been given to those above 60 years. We are also taking feedback from all medical shops and informal health service providers on patients,” an official said.
In Saran, over 6.25 lakh houses were surveyed and over 37.1 lakh people were screened. Saran DM Subrat Kumar Sen said several teams of Asha, Anganwadi and other health workers were formed to conduct the survey. “The surveyors were given daily briefing on Covid-19 and feedback was taken from them,” he said.

Health workers carrying out the survey complained that many people didn’t cooperate. Varun Kumar, who supervised a team in Nalanda district, said, “People asked a lot of questions and at times stopped us from conducting the survey. Moreover, despite knowing that we were health workers, we were stopped at the entrance of several villages where we had to convince people to let us enter.”
ASHA worker, Sunita Kumari has surveyed around 350 houses in Gaya. “I used to visit at least 60-70 houses per day. People often asked me and other health workers to spray bleaching powder in their houses, which was not possible for us,” she said.
On the other hand, residents of some districts claimed screening was not done in their areas. Md Adib, resident of Saluganj locality in Biharsharif, claimed that nobody came to his house for door- to- door screening. “I heard that screening was done in the containment zones but nobody came to our locality,” he said.
Several others, however, confirmed that screening was done in their area. “Asha workers had come to every house, asked for symptoms like cough and cold and house numbering was also done,” said Mannu Tiwari, resident of Tiwari Chakia village in Bhorey block in Gopalganj district.
Asked about the steps that will be taken after migrants from foreign countries arrive in the state, Dr Mishra said screening will further step up. “We will also go for aggressive testing of the migrants. Only if we don’t get positive cases, we will be able to say that the spread of virus is stabilizing,” she adde.
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