After finding out that doorto-door survey of all houses in Delhi is not a good option to control coronavirus in the national capital, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government, Union Ministry of Health, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and NITI Aayog have prepared a new plan on a revised strategy to strengthen Covid-19 surveillance and response in Delhi. The strategy will be reviewed after 10 July 2020.
Authorities felt that doorto-door survey of all houses in Delhi is not a good option under the plan. The report said that there were practical difficulties related to intensive surveillance work in door-to-door surveys. It said that while conducting such surveys, Covid symptoms (influenza, respiratory infections, etc) were appearing at different times.
It was decided that broadly, the work could be done by dividing the population and areas of Delhi into three parts. The first part is containment zone (currently more than 421), the second part is isolated case areas (it has two subparts, first subpart is Isolated cases have been coming in for the last 28 days in such areas and second subpart is other areas where isolated cases are coming sparingly). Third and last are areas/societies or villages where no Covid case has been reported so far. The complete plan has been sent to the district magistrates for implementation.
According to the new strategy, surveillance will be strengthened in containment zones under strict control. Their numbers have been increased to 421 based on the review of experts. Surveillance in these zones has to be increased with strict control. Houseto-house search in containment zones will be done through personal visits (not telephonic) and a list of high-risk persons suffering from comorbidities will be prepared. Regular tracing and assessment will be done with the help of Aarogya Setu and ITIHAS app. Case mapping will be done on the basis of time and geographical location. Assessment of epidemiological status and tracking of transmission chain will also be done using ITIHAS app. The objective of this methodology is to increase contact tracing, house to house search, high risk people listings and special surveillance, strict quarantine and isolation.
In areas where cases are not reported so far, the aim is to reduce diseases and mortality by listing societies by RWAs. To prevent entry of people from affected areas screening of every person at the time of entry, compulsory download of Aarogya Setu app. Delhi›s serological survey is currently being carried out in all 11 districts of Delhi. IgM (immunoglobulin M) and IgG (immunoglobulin G) levels of adults as well as children (with a population of 20,000) will be administered for evaluation. This survey will be completed by 10 July 2020. The result of this survey will be able to know the current status, immunity status, and future line of Covid-19.
