While the threat of Covid-19 looms large in rural areas across the country, more than 10,000 villages or nearly half the villages in Chhattisgarh are now free of the pandemic.
The timely measures taken by Chhattisgarh government to prevent the spread of infection in rural areas has proven to be effective, an official communication said on Thursday.
As soon as the second wave of Covid surged in urban areas, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel ordered every possible measure to prevent the spread of the infection to rural areas.
The quarantine centers established in villages during the first wave were reactivated with better infrastructure. People returning from other states or cities got accommodation as well as test and treatment facilities in these centers.
Mitanins, health teams, Aanganbadi workers and teachers were deployed to conduct door-to-door surveys to identify the infected people.
The timely allotment and distribution of essential medicine kits were ensured in the villages.
New labs are being established one after the other to expand the testing capacity, because of which the daily sample testing capacity has expanded from 21-22,000 to 70,000 per day. Health infrastructure has been strengthened. Ambulances ferried critical patients from rural areas to hospitals nearby.
Accordingly, 9,462 of the total 20,092 villages have become corona free in Chhattisgarh, the communication said.