Door-to-door COVID test

Form 7th July onwards the Assam Government has begun the "first-of-its-kind" door-to-door COVID-19 testing drive in Guwahati, which has seen a sudden spike of over 4,000 cases since June 15, amidst the lockdown which will now continue till 15th of July.

"In a first-of-its-kind initiative on mass testing in Assam, Health Department shall carry out house-to-house COVID tests in Ward No.2 (Pandu area) of Guwahati Municipality, starting Tuesday (July 7). We target to complete 3,000 tests in the Ward in two days (sic)," Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said in a tweet.

The project is named as 'grid testing' and will begin from Pandu area in Guwahati, using Standard Q Antigen test kits. The State government's Health department plans to map each and every house in Guwahati as well as other hotspots and conduct the unique procedure to break the chain of COVID-19 transmission.

However, the people in the area in Ward No-2 didn't respond to the request by the Health minister on the call for cooperation, people are hardly coming out of their homes to take up tests, and are adamant to go for rapid tests until they are facing any symptoms.

The corona-fear is so much ingrained now into the public's mind, that they're now scared to even visit medical facilities. The rumours on quarantine centres being not fully santized, a breeding ground for more diseases, many have the fear that they will be taken into the treatment without being turning out positive.

It's a really crucial time that, health executives need to aware the public (which include the majority of illiterates) as well, they need to know the facts, how COVID-19 is not 'the most threatening' disease which it has been made to look like. Only after that, people might keep their doubts aside and come out voluntarily for the tests.

Rajashree Das,

Gauhati University