Assam Government makes extensive plans to fight against COVID-19 outbreak by taking various measures:

Guwahati, May 6: Assam makes extensive plans to fight against COVID-19. As the inflow of the people from Assam stranded in various states has started, the Assam government has decided to start Assam Community Surveillance Programme across the state to identify Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) cases amid COVID-19 outbreak.

The state Health Department has formed around 1000 medical teams for this task and the teams will visit around 25000 villages in the state in the next four weeks.

One doctor will lead each medical team and each team has consisted of Multipurpose Health Worker (MPW), Surveillance Worker, Auxiliary Nurse Midwifery (ANM), an Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) worker.

The Village Headman will also help the medical team.

Anurag Goel, Commissioner and Secretary of the state Health Department said that the state Health Department has decided to start the Assam Community Surveillance Programme across the state to check Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) cases.

Anurag Goel said that, the state Health Department has already formed more than 900 medical teams and the teams will visit around 25,000 villages across the state in the next four weeks.

“We have formed more than 900 medical teams across the state to visit every village in the next three to four weeks to do surveillance for influenza-like cases. MPW, Surveillance Worker, ANM, ASHA worker, and medical officer are in each team and local Gaoburha (village headman) will also involve. The village headman will identify the persons who come from outside and they have some symptoms. We will target those persons and their families. If required, we will keep them immediately home quarantine and collect their samples. If tested positive then we will bring them to isolation,” Anurag Goel said.

He further said that – “It is our strategy. People have started coming and we are going to villages.”

“One team will cover around 25 villages in four weeks. We have 42,000 ASHA workers and they are working in villages. There are around 4700 health sub-centers across the state and around 5000 ANM are working in these sub-centers. For this task, we are taking help from the private doctors also. Many private doctors have come forward to help us voluntarily,” Anurag Goel said.

According to the Assam government, over 15 lakh people from the state mostly are migrant laborers have stranded at different parts in the country due to lockdown and many students, people have returned to the state.

The Commissioner and Secretary of the state Health Department said that, the government has established extensive facilities for screening and checking the people at the state borders and the district borders.

“After the screening, the patient who will be asymptomatic, we will do active surveillance of these people by keeping them on home quarantine through our frontline workers. Those people who will have minor symptom we will immediately take them into facility quarantine. We have sufficient facility quarantine beds across the state. Because facility quarantine need not be at the hospital, it can be in school, colleges, any residential place, Dharamsala, hotels and the district Deputy Commissioners have already identified a sufficient number of facilities across the state,” Anurag Goel said.

He also said that, the state government has created 1000 beds facility at Baxirhat in Dhubri district along the West Bengal border and another 1000 beds facility at Kokrajhar SAI stadium.

“People who are highly symptomatic, we will not allow them to enter into the heart of the state and will keep them in border quarantine center and if found positive then taken them to isolation,” Anurag Goel said.

Assam has reported 44 positive cases for COVID-19 so far and one among them died and 32 others were discharged from hospitals.