New Delhi, Jul 3: Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) in Karnataka have emerged as a "crucial pillar in the state's success" in combating Covid-19, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday.
Acknowledging and praising their work, the ministry said they have been actively participating in household surveys in the state, screening inter-state passengers, migrant workers and others in the community for symptoms of the infection,
“Around 42,000 ASHAs have emerged as a crucial pillar in the state's success” in combating Covid-19, the ministry said.
"Recognizing the increased vulnerability of certain population groups to Covid-19, in a one-time survey to identify households with the elderly, persons with co-morbidities, and immune-compromised individuals, about 1.59 crore households were covered," the ministry said in a statement.
ASHAs regularly monitor such high-risk groups in their area with a periodicity of follow-up visits varying from once a day in the containment zones to once every 15 days in other areas, it said.
They also visit the houses of persons complaining influenza-like-illness (ILI) symptoms and severe acute respiratory infections (SARI), besides high-risk individuals who have called the state health department helpline numbers, the ministry said.
ASHAs are a part of the Rural Task Force, headed by Panchayat Development Officer (PDO) at the Gram Panchayat level, for addressing public grievances on both Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 related services.
ASHAs are trained female community health activists selected from the village itself and accountable to it. They are trained to work as an interface between the community and the public health system.
In the urban areas too, they have been at the forefront of dissemination of various awareness activities in fever clinics and swab collection centres in urban areas.
They have also actively screened cases of ILI and SARI in urban areas. They are also part of the screening teams at international and interstate check-posts.
Karnataka has reported 272 Covid-19 deaths and 18,016 cases, according to the health ministry data updated at 8 AM.
Bengaluru, Apr 27: A 57-year-old man died of COVID-19 in Kalaburagi on Monday taking the fatalities due to the virus in Karnataka to 20.
"One more person died due to COVID-19 in the state. The 57-year-old person was tested positive for coronavirus on April 21," Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar tweeted on Monday evening.
The minister said he was admitted to the Gulbarga Institute of Medical Sciences with respiratory problem.
He was also suffering from severe liver related ailments.
"With this five deaths have taken place in Kalaburagi district due to the virus," the minister added in his tweet.
The first COVID-19 death in the country was reported from Kalaburagi in March.
Bengaluru, Mar 14: Infosys carried out evacuation at one of its satellite offices here on Friday after an employee came in contact with a suspected case of COVID-19, according to the company.
"We have taken a decision to evacuate one of our satellite buildings in Bengaluru as a precautionary measure, as one of our employees had been in contact with an individual with suspected COVID-19," the company said in its statement.
"Employees have been directed to work from home, and there is no impact on our client deliverables as a result of this temporary evacuation," it added.
On the other hand, Google also informed media on Friday that an employee at its Bengaluru office has tested positive for the COVID-19 and the firm has directed all its employees in that office to work from home as a precautionary measure.
"We can confirm that an employee from our Bangalore office has been diagnosed with COVID-19. They were in one of our Bangalore offices for a few hours before developing any symptoms. The employee has been on quarantine since then," Google had said in a statement. The search engine giant has asked colleagues who were in close contact with the employee to quarantine themselves and monitor their health.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.
Coronavirus, which originated in the Wuhan city of China, has so far spread to more than 100 countries infecting over 1,20,000 people. India has reported two deaths and 82 confirmed cases of the deadly coronavirus.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) had declared the coronavirus outbreak a 'pandemic' and expressed deep concern.
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We are already facing lot of problems here without food and money.
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