At least 1.55 crore people in 31.96 lakh households of 6300 villages in 22 districts covered during state's door-to-door screening programme
The daily Covid-positivity rate in Haryana’s rural areas has dipped below 0.50 per cent, even as a massive door-to-door screening project launched by the state government last month nears its end.
Till June 1, over 1.55 crore villagers living in 31.96 lakh households of 6300 villages — out of a total approximate 6700 villages across the state — have already been screened, figures released by the state health department said.
Officials said a few villages, where the Covid-positivity rate was found above 5 per cent, were even re-screened after a gap of a few days and have since registered zero positive cases.
The cumulative Covid-positivity rate in Haryana’s rural areas was found to be 3.02 per cent, till Tuesday evening. In an initial survey conducted by the state health department, last month, it was found that at least 32 per cent of the Covid-19 patients who were getting admitted in hospitals were coming from rural areas, while 68 per cent were from urban areas.
Apprehending a high rate of transmission of the Covid-19 virus in rural areas, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had ordered a statewide door-to-door screening of the rural population last month. Around 8,000 teams were constituted to conduct the exercise, which was launched under Haryana Villagers General Health Checkup Scheme (HVGHCS) from May 15.
According to the state health department, as of June 1, atleast1,55,38,582 people had been screened in Haryana’s 6300 villages. On June 1 alone, at least 3,27,246 people were screened. During the door-to-door screening, the teams have administered the Covid test to at least 1,12,906 people, out of which 3413 returned positive till June 1 evening.
“Re-screening of villages that had more than 5 per cent positivity was started in Panipat and Bhiwani districts. Atleast 9480 people (5006 in Panipat and 4474 in Bhiwani) were screened in the two districts. Out of these 171 were tested, but none was found positive”, a state health department official said.
The health department official added that “all the villages in the districts of Ambala, Bhiwani, Faridabad, Fatehabad, Jhajjar, Palwal, Kurukshetra, Narnaul, Rewari, Sirsa and Yamunanagar have been screened, at least once.”
In terms of district-wise cumulative Covid-positivity rate in rural areas, Sirsa has recorded the highest with 6.79 per cent, followed by Rohtak (5.75 per cent), Hisar (5.54 per cent), Fatehabad (5.22 per cent), Panipat (5.15 per cent), Kurukshetra (4.99 per cent) and Panchkula (4.66 per cent).
The districts of Ambala recorded a Covid-19 positivity rate of 2.54 per cent, Bhiwani (3.70 per cent), Charkhi Dadri (2.91 per cent), Faridabad (0.69 per cent), Gurgaon (0.74 per cent), Jhajjar (2.75 per cent), Jind (2.28 per cent), Kaithal (2.38 per cent), Karnal (2.89 per cent), Mahendragarh (2.07 per cent), Nuh (0.27 per cent), Palwal (1.29 per cent), Rewari (2.19 per cent), Sonipat (1.88 per cent) and Yamunanagar (1.11 per cent).
Soon after apprehensions of the virus spreading more rapidly in rural areas came to the fore, the state government had swung into action constituting screening teams and setting up 1909 Village Isolation Centres with a facility of 22,072 beds. At present, there are 1718 such centres where beds are available for patients who require isolation and do not have adequate space at their place of living.
The overall statewide daily Covid-positivity rate in Haryana has also come down from the peak of 29.92 per cent on May 7, to 2.93 per cent of June 1. The cumulative Covid-positivity rate on June 1 hovered around the 8.36 per cent mark. The lockdown in Haryana has been extended till June 7. However, major relaxations were allowed since June 1 for the opening of shops and allowing shopping malls to reopen, but with restricted number of visitors.
As per the new regulations, which will now be implemented in the state till June 7, shopping malls can remain open from 10am to 6pm. The shops in marketplaces have also been allowed to remain open from 9am till 3pm. Currently, the shops were only allowed to remain open from 7am till noon.
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