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May 5, 2020

Surveillance efforts will not stop till we together defeat corona in Bengal: Mamata Banerjee

In Bangla, over the period of almost a month, from April 7 to May 3, in order to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus and the disease it causes, COVID-19,, “60,000 specially trained ASHA and health workers”, under the direction of the Health Department, visited more than 5.57 crore households and conducted tests, which identified 91,515 cases of influenza-like illness (ILI) and 872 cases of severe acute respiratory illness (SARI), a statement put out by Chief Minister on her Facebook page on May 5 said.

Bengal has become first state to conduct such a large-scale State-wide testing drive. The post also contained attached images, which gave out various data related to the survey conducted in the State, as a response to the outbreak of COVID-19. The images included two district maps, showing the extent of spread of ILI and SARI.

The maps show that, with respect to influenza-like illness or ILI, Diamond Harbour Health District tops the list, with 8,712 cases, followed by Purba Bardhaman district, with 6,785 cases and South 24 Parganas, with 5,859 cases, while with respect to severe acute respiratory illness or SARI, Darjeeling district tops the list, with 231 cases, followed by Birbhum, with 168 cases and Hugli, with 78 cases.

The door-to-door surveillance has resulted in the admission of 375 people in different health facilities, 62 of whom later tested positive for COVID-19, Mamata Banerjee went on to say.

The statement said the massive door-to-door surveillance, a “herculean effort” undertaken over “the past 4 weeks”, gave the government “early warning signs”, and is “an important proactive step” in stemming the tide of COVID-19.

“The surveillance efforts are ongoing and we will not stop till we together defeat Corona in Bengal”, the chief minister concluded.

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