Coronavirus outbreak: PMC to survey every person who returned from abroad in March

“The state government has decided to visit each house where someone has come from abroad, both Indians and foreigners,” said E S Chahal, principal secretary of the state Urban Development department, in his order.

The order specified that authorities will also have to visit the house of each person who came in contact with a COVID-19 positive patient, and survey them for the infection.

The exercise aims to put three final lists together: those who have returned from a foreign country but don’t have the infection, those who have returned from a foreign country and have the infection, and those infected after contact with an infected person who has come from abroad.

The administration decided to undertake the exercise after noting that while the number of people with foreign travel history, who have the disease, was stablising in the state since international flights have been suspended for days, the number of people who have been infected due to contact with them was increasing.

The PMC has appointed four of its officers — Sanjay Gawade, Ganesh Sonune, Vaishali Jadhav and Sanjeev Waware — for the exercise in its jurisdiction.

Additional Municipal Commissioner of PMC, Rubal Agarwal, said, “All those, including Indian and foreign citizens, who have come to the city from abroad will be surveyed via home visits.”

On Friday, the PMC made it mandatory for those who have returned from a foreign country since March 1to register themselves online, so that the civic body can locate them easily.

The detailed information taken in the survey, especially about those infected and hospitalised, will be submitted to the Disaster Management Cell with the name, address and contact number of the patients, alongwith screening and laboratory test reports.