48K Covid-19 kits given away during fever survey

HYDERABAD: On the first day of the door-to-door fever survey, 48,000 home isolation kits were distributed among patients who showed Covid-19 symptoms.

The survey was launched on Friday with as many as 12.6 lakh houses surveyed
across the state in a single day. Joint teams from the health, panchayat raj and
municipal administration departments are taking part in the survey.

Health minister T. Harish Rao on Saturday participated in the fever survey by personally visiting houses in Ambedkar Nagar area in Siddipet. During the door-to-door survey, he enquired if anyone in the family had any Covid-19 symptoms like cold, cough and fever.

He said the government had acquired two crore Covid-19 testing kits and prepared one crore home isolation kits. Around 27,000 oxygen-equipped beds were in place in hospitals, he said and added that the state’s oxygen capacity had been  increased from 120 metric tonnes to 370 metric tonnes.

“People should avoid running to private hospitals unnecessarily and spend money. The government is prepared to face any kind of untoward situation. Every day, over one lakh Covid-19 tests are being conducted in the state.”

The health minister asked the health workers if all the households in the area were fully vaccinated and also enquired about how long the precautionary dose vaccination would take. “The Omicron variant of Covid-19 is spreading rapidly. Hopefully, the Covid-19 cases will soon drop,” he addressed the locals.

The minister explained that the health volunteers would regularly check the health status of those who were found to have symptoms either over phone or by home visit. If anyone was found to have severe health issues, they would immediately be moved to the local hospital, he said. The door-to-door fever survey will continue for five to eight weeks. The minister asked the health officials to set up additional testing centres wherever there were long queues.