CHENNAI: With the gradual decrease in the number of Covid-19 cases in the city and fresh cases plateauing at around 160-180/day for a month, Greater Chennai Corporation has started to cut down on the number of fever survey workers (FSW).
Based on the sero-survey done by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the civic body has decided to cut 30% to 60% of the current strength of workers in the various zones in the city, official documents show. For instance, in Tiruvottiyur zone in north Chennai, the strength has been reduced from 374 to 211. Around 270 workers have been taken off fever survey work in Manali zone.
The main role of a fever survey worker is to go door-todoor, collect information about residents with fever and other influenza-like-illness (ILI) symptoms and to ensure that they get tested. They had a fixed wage of Rs391 a day, to be paid at the end of the month.
Seroprevalence for Covid-19 in Chennai was 78.2% according to the latest survey carried out in July by ICMR.
The contracts of the retained fever surveillance workers were extended in July by one to three months depending on the case load in the respective zones. In Manali, workers have been given a month’s extension. In Adyar zone, which has comparatively higher cases, workers were given a three-month extension in July, till September end. Worker count has been cut from 1,472 to 965 in Adyar. In Valasaravakkam zone, where the period was extended till September, workers has been reduced from 875 to 534. Not a single FSW has been taken off duty in some wards.
