LUCKNOW: With the spike in the number of Covid-19 cases, especially in Meerut division comprising Gautam Buddh Nagar and Ghaziabad of NCR along with four
other districts, the state government is set to launch a door-to-door screening of people. The health teams will visit every household under a special surveillance plan set to roll out on July 1.
The state, meanwhile, crossed 20,000-mark in sample testing on a single day. UP tested 20,028 samples during the last 24 hours taking the tally of total tested samples to 6,63,096 so far.
Though the campaign would be launched from July 5, a separate surveillance plan would focus on Noida and Ghaziabad along with Hapur, Baghpat, Meerut, and Bulandshahr, to put a leash on the virus in Meerut division, according to Additional Chief Secretary, Health, Amit Mohan Prasad.
Meanwhile, the state tally of coronavirus cases rose to 20,899 with 607 fresh cases on Saturday. The only silver lining is the rising rate of recovery which is now around 66%. The state has 6684 active cases after the recovery of 14,215 patients. As many as 649 persons have lost the battle to the virus so far.
Meerut division has been witnessing an unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases. Of the total 607 fresh cases reported in the state during the last 24 hours, 284 had been in Meerut division which accounted for 47% of the total count.
Meanwhile, Gautam Buddh Nagar breached the 2000 mark with 127 fresh cases in the last 24 hours. Ghaziabad reported 69 since Friday evening taking the district tally to 1283. The two districts alone account for over 15% of the total cases in the state.
Under the special plan for these districts, all the markets, mandis, shops, government and non-government organizations would be surveyed and sanitized.
“The teams of the health department will visit every household across all the wards, Zila panchayats, and gram panchayats to survey people on various health parameters to assess the actual scenario. This campaign will also help in reaching out to people in the early stages of infection, if at all, and provide them
speedy treatment,” said the ACS.
Even public announcement system would also be put to use to make people aware of the symptoms and the precaution and protocol to be followed to ward off the
virus.
Meanwhile, night curfew is already in force across six districts including Noida and Ghaziabad wherein the movement of people is restricted between 8 pm and 6 am.
In the meantime, the state has ramped up the sample to touch the target of 20,000 samples in a day. On Friday, 20,028 samples were tested thus taking the tally of total tested samples to 6, 63,096 in Uttar Pradesh so far.
Moreover, the introduction of antigen test kit has also contributed to rapid testing in the state. Of 826 samples test through antigen kit across 10 districts of the sate including Noida and Ghaziabad, 26 were found to be positive.