The Government of Assam launched a community surveillance programme on 7 May in 30 000 villages across the state to track patients with severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) and Influenza-like Illness (ILI) to detect any community transmission of COVID-19. Through the program frontline health workers conduct house-to-house surveys for the identification of all SARI and ILI cases along with Japanese Encephalitis (JE), dengue, malaria and fever cases. Of the 4552 samples collected and tested since the 7 May programme launch, two COVID-19 positive cases were identified. Regional team leader Dr Puneet Mishra declared, “WHO Medical Officers built the capacity of frontline workers in infection prevention and control, identification and reporting of suspect cases and coordination with the district sample collecting teams. Additionally, we monitored the implementation and coordinated programme reviews at district and state level.”
