The Andhra Pradesh government lead by Jaganmohan Reddy on Tuesday announced door-to-door campaigns to track foreign returnees as a measure to contain COVID-19 in the state.
2.5 lakh volunteers deployed
2.5 lakh volunteers have been deployed in the state, 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.
This initiative has helped the government to identify and track 10,000 foreign returnees over and above those informed about by the Government of India.
According to ANI, out of 10,000 returnees identified, 140 have displayed symptoms while the remaining 9,860 have shown no symptoms. The cutoff date to track foreign returnees has been set as February 10, 2020.
Spreading awareness
Apart from tracking the foreign returnees, the volunteers are also liable for spreading awareness about the ‘Dos and Donts’ to each member of the household. With this, the government looks to reach every household in the state through this campaign.
According to the reports, each volunteer is accountable for 50 households. In case there are any indicative persons or foreign returnees in these 50 households, the volunteers perform an entry in a mobile application given to them.
Following this, the entries are directly monitored by the district health authorities and primary health care centers. Depending on the need of the specific case, health teams are rushed to the spot and appropriate action is taken.
