COVID-19: Uddhav launches door-to-door campaign in Maha from Sept 15

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday announced that the government will start door-to-door campaign from September 15 to screen its population for COVID-19 and educate people about the symptoms to ensure early detection of the virus.

A statement issued by the chief minister's office (CMO) said the scheme, in its first phase, has a target to reach 2.25 crore families twice a month, for which help of NGOs and elected representatives will be taken.

Under the new scheme, volunteers appointed by the health department will embark on a door-to-door survey and test temperature and oxygen levels of people, besides other symptoms, including tiredness, throat pain/dry cough, diarrhoea, and loss of smell and taste.

Volunteers will also check for co-morbidities such as diabetes, heart and kidney ailments, and obesity, and refer them for appropriate treatment.

The teams will trace suspected COVID-19 patients and those suffering from other ailments, it said.

The campaign will be implemented at the level of gram panchayat and municipal corporations.

The first phase will end on October 10 and the second phase will take place between October 12 to 24.

Maharashtra's COVID-19 tally stands at 8,63,062 and the death toll has shot up to 25,964. The state's recovery rate decreased from 72.58 per cent to 72.51 per cent, while the current mortality (death) rate remained at 3.01 per cent on Friday.

Against this, a significant number of people - 13,289 - recovered fully and returned home on Friday, taking the total number of discharges in the state to 625,773, considerably higher than the 210,978 active cases currently present in the state.

Mumbai's death toll increased to 7,799 while the number of cases increased to 1,52,024 on Friday.

Of the total 8 circles, the Mumbai circle (MMR comprising Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Raigad) remains on the brink as deaths spiral and cases pile up, with fatalities shooting up to 13,156 and total cases stand at 3,51,459.

Thane district is on the third spot with 112,952 cases and 3,913 deaths.

Meanwhile, the number of people sent to home quarantine are 14,51,343 now, while the number of those under institutional quarantine was 36,873 on Friday.

(With inputs from agency)

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