The Bengal government has directed all districts to conduct door-to-door surveys for compiling a database of persons with Covid-19 symptoms following a recommendation by Nobel laureate Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee, the head of the state’s global advisory board on the disease.

Sources said health workers would look for people showing symptoms consistent with Covid-19, Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI), and Influenza-like Illnesses (ILI) and refer such persons to local hospitals for tests.

“Grassroots-level health workers encompassing Asha (Accredited Social Health Activist) and ANM (Auxiliary Nurse Midwifery) people will visit homes and collect the data,” said a senior health official.

“The survey and database will help us. All those who are recommended for a medical check-up will be isolated immediately so that Covid-19 can be prevented from spreading in that particular area.”

Under the new plan, symptomatic persons will be sent to local block hospitals, where doctors will decide whether they need to be sent into quarantine and if they are in need of a Covid test.

The Nobel laureate had recently urged chief minister Mamata Banerjee to set up a reporting structure for widening the ambit of random testing, based on inputs from the grassroots level so as to identify hotspots and minimise the spread of the disease.

In a tele-conference with the chief minister regarding the state’s Covid response policy, Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee had said last week: “In a particular place, five-seven people have been seen coughing a lot. Testing there. A reporting structure, a hotline, Asha workers… tell them to report if they see a lot of people suddenly coughing a lot, get there for testing.”

Health officials said Asha and ANM workers would be given training and then fielded to collect data within a format like what the state used to combat dengue. In few districts like East Burdwan and Hooghly, Asha workers have already been fielded to collect data in a specific format, whereas other districts have started conducting training.

“It is simple — like a survey that we made to combat dengue or polio. The health workers will enquire about the members of a household, specifically whether anyone has any symptoms related to SARI or ILI. They will take the data in detail from every household,” said a senior state official.

In Birbhum, sessions were already held in every block of the district to train ANM and Asha workers in the technicalities of the survey. “I conducted a video conference on Saturday with all block level officials. After the training, the health workers will start their work immediately,” said Moumita Godara Basu, Birbhum’s district magistrate.

Post for monitoring

The government has decided to create a post of an officer on special duty for north Bengal to monitor treatment of suspected and confirmed coronavirus patients and coordinate with the state’s administrative headquarters at Nabanna.

Sushanta Roy, a senior doctor posted at the Jalpaiguri district hospital, who is also the north Bengal convener of the Indian Medical Association, was appointed to the post.

HC chief justices

Justice Biswanath Somadder, former acting Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court and present judge of Allahabad High Court, has been appointed as the Chief Justice of Meghalaya High Court.

Justice Dipankar Datta of Calcutta High Court is the new Chief Justice of Bombay High Court.

A collegium of five senior judges of the Supreme Court took the decisions on the appointments at a meeting on April 18.