Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh) [India], Mar 24 : The Andhra Pradesh government has started door-to-door campaigns to track foreign returnees as a measure to contain COVID-19 in the state.
The state deployed over 2.5 lakh volunteers each with the responsibility of screening 50 households. A total of 1,38,58,747 households have been screened by the volunteer network by now out of the registered 1,43,91,654 households in the state.
The campaign has helped the government identify and track 10,000 foreign returnees over and above those informed about by the Government of India. Out of 10,000 returnees identified, 140 have shown symptoms while the remaining 9,860 have been asymptomatic. The cutoff date to track foreign returnees has been set as February 10, 2020.
Apart from tracking the foreign returnees, the volunteers are also responsible for spreading awareness about the 'Dos and Donts' to each member of the household. The government aims to reach every household in the state through this campaign. Now the government is expanding the wings of this campaign and is also focussing to even those without a travel history.
Due to this campaign, the government is able to identify those people whose details aren't mentioned in the GOI records and those who intentionally hide their travel history.
Each volunteer is responsible for 50 households. If there are any symptomatic persons or foreign returnees in these 50 households, the volunteers make an entry in a mobile application given to them. These entries directly are monitored by the district health authorities and primary health care centres. Depending on the need of the specific case, health teams are rushed to the spot and appropriate action is taken.
( With inputs from ANI )