Scaling up preventive measures to contain the spread of Zika virus, the Uttar Pradesh government has intensified comprehensive surveillance and has initiated doorstep surveys throughout the state to bring down transmission levels.
Under the stringent containment mechanism, the health workers are carrying out extensive exercise of mass-scale sanitisation, state-wide surveillance, spraying of anti-larva chemicals, fogging and cleanliness drives, a government spokesman said here on Tuesday.
He said the health workers had been paying door-to-door visits to identify patients with viral fever, vector-borne diseases and with other symptoms. He said the authorities were also working to create awareness on preventative measures to curb Zika virus with the help of posters.
Apart from ensuring proper arrangements for treatment of patients infected with Zika virus at government hospitals, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has also made it compulsory for private hospitals to provide treatment to patients infected with Zika virus and the cases of fever are being monitored via the integrated command centre to ensure there is no panic of Zika and dengue.
It is noteworthy that since the confirmation of the state's first case of Zika virus on October 22, the Uttar Pradesh government is carrying out strict testing of samples on a large scale at King George’s Medical University in Lucknow to remove the risk of any further spread of the virus.
As a result of the efficient screening, testing and containment measures implemented by the state government, the Zika test positivity rate in places like Kanpur Nagar and Kannauj is registering a consistent and steady decline.
In pursuance of the directives issued by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, over 73,000 surveillance committees besides ASHA workers have been visiting households for screening, tracing patients showing viral symptoms, fever and influenza-like illness (ILI).
Meanwhile, novel coronavirus cases have fallen sharply in UP since the devastating months at the start of the year. The active caseload has come down to 99, pushing the recovery rate up to a remarkable 98.8 per cent.
The fresh and active COVID-19 cases in as many as 45 districts of the state have declined to zero. In the last 24 hours, only nine samples have tested positive for novel coronavirus infection while eight COVID-19 patients have recovered during the same time.