Surveillance teams have been deployed for conducting door-to-door survey (Representational)
The Delhi government has roped in several teachers of its schools to be part of teams conducting a door-to-door survey for COVID-19 in the national capital.
Following a meeting between Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, it was decided that the survey in the city will be conducted by the teams of AIIMS, Delhi government and municipal corporations, and all the symptomatic people found in the survey would be tested and provided the necessary treatment.
"Surveillance teams have been constituted and deployed for conducting a door-to-door survey of all the households in the hotspot and vulnerable areas of Delhi. The survey shall be completed within five days and each team shall survey 50 households every day.
"During the drive, the teachers roped in will be on field duty, thus they will not be able to take online classes or other official duty," a government official said.
Delhi recorded 7,486 fresh COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, taking the tally in the national capital to over 5 lakh, even as 131 new fatalities, the highest single-day death count till date, pushed the toll to 7,943.
Battling the surge in COVID-19 cases in Delhi on a war-footing, the AAP government on Thursday announced sweeping measures, including a steep Rs 2,000 fine for not wearing masks, reservation of 80 per cent ICU beds in private hospitals, doubling testing centres in every district and postponement of non-critical surgeries at health facilities.
Private hospitals have also been directed to increase the percentage of non-ICU COVID-19 beds from 50 per cent to 60 per cent. The government will increase the number of RT-PCR test to 27,000 a day in the city and MBBS students and interns will be engaged to tackle the COVID-19 situation.