PUDUCHERRY: The second round of door-to-door surveillance set to begin in the Union Territory will not only screen people for COVID-19, but also take note of any addition in the family or any absence from the family, Health Minister Malladi Krishna Rao said while seeking the support of people to make Puducherry COVID-19 free.
Briefing media persons, Rao said this will be done by matching the details of people gathered in the first round with that gathered in the second round to detect if any of the family members have left for other states or to see if any new members have come in from other states.
There will also be a third round on the same lines.
He said that the screening of 13,04,204 persons residing in 3,41,233 houses has been completed and no infections were reported. So far, 2228 RT-PCR tests were carried out in the union territory.
2150 of these have proved negative. A further 70 results are awaited. In all, 2727 people remain in quarantine.
The Health minister said the COVID-19 positive case count in the union territory remains at three.
Rao also claimed that it was Chief Minister V Narayanasamy raising the issue of the migrant labourers of Yanam with the Union Home Secretary that led to the Home ministry issuing the order with revised guidelines allowing movement of migrant workers and stranded people across the entire country.
He said the health, police, revenue and other departments have done excellent work for the past 37 days and this has enabled Puducherry to fight COVID-19 successfully. Rao also lauded the people for their cooperation in the fight.