COVID-19: Door-to-door screening of people in Chandigarh

In a move to check the spread of coronavirus, Chandigarh administration has started door-to door-screening of the entire population of the Union Territory to see if anybody has travel history or is showing symptoms like fever or coughing.

The Union Territory of Chandigarh is the first city in the country which is carrying out such screening of people in the wake of coronavirus outbreak.

We are conducting screening of people in the city and it is doable, said UT Chandigarh Adviser Manoj Parida here on Saturday.

We are checking if anybody has a fever or cough and if anybody has a travel history, said Parida, adding that paramedical staff had been pressed into service.

This exercise will also help in locating those people who are reluctant in sharing their details, he said.

We already have covered over three lakh people under screening. Nobody will be left out, he said and hoped that the entire exercise of screening would be completed within a week.

Chandigarh has a population of about 12 lakh.

Chandigarh will be the first city in the country where 100 per cent (people) will be covered. It is a small city and limited population and we have competent staff, manpower, doctors etc, he further said.

The Chandigarh Administrator, V P Singh Badnore, appealed to people to cooperate with medical survey teams which are going from house to house to screen residents.

Chandigarh has reported a total of 19 coronavirus cases of which seven have been discharged from hospital.

Meanwhile, Badnore said the curfew in the city will remain as long as the lockdown in the entire country continues.

He also directed that the farmers going for harvesting and marketing of their produce should be facilitated during the curfew.

The Administrator further directed the education department to devise a mechanism, through which 40 book stores in Chandigarh could arrange home delivery of books to the students during the curfew period.