The second phase of the mega health screening programme for all families will start in Odisha’s Ganjam district from Monday.
According to Ganjam Collector, Vijay Amruta Kulange, the screening will cover more than 3.5 lakh families. During the screening process, special teams will check for COVID-19 related symptoms and home quarantine issues. Similar health screening taken up throughout the district in the first phase ended on April 14.
Such major screening is an extreme need in Ganjam, as till now over 1.5 lakh persons have returned to the district and the inflow of returnees is continuing. With 598 positive cases till now, Ganjam has the highest number of positive cases in Odisha, with four deaths. At present, over 70,000 persons are in home quarantine in the district.
In Ganjam district, 15 persons accommodated in Temporary Medical Centres (TMC) housing returnees in institutional quarantine were found to be infected by COVID-19. They included 12 of Badapalli panchayat and three of Aitipur panchayat in the Khallikote block. Due to this, the district administration declared nine villages of Badapalli panchayat and one village of Aitipur panchayat as containment zones from Sunday.
To allay the possibility of community spread, the mega health screening programme, phase II, is being taken up in Ganjam. The district administration has also started training over 20,000 women self-help group members and volunteers to check the possibility of community spread in the district.
