COVID 19

On March 10,2020 call centre was set up to maintain a surveillance on the home isolated people including returns from abroad and to ensure the proper and compulsory quarantine of them for 14 to 28 days. The team had a follow up on the current medical condition of the isolated people.The team was under the guidance of Dr Harikrishnan B. There were almost 50 volunteers at the call centre coordinated by Amith Jacob. A number of 300 calls were made within eight to nine hours.There was a dilemma that the calling process was complex and took a long time to reach all the contacts. To help in improving the calling process; Corona Relation Management (coronaRM) software was introduced.

Migrant Call Center

Migrant call centre is specially designed for migrant workers from different places. It monitors the needs and well being of the migrant workers. The call centre consists of polyglot volunteers who can work from home.

Over the time people had to step out to get provisions, medicine, and livestock fodder among other essentials. Thus, the surveillance cell began separating medical and non- medical needs and redirected the requirements to respective Primary Health Centres (PHC) and Panchayats. These essentials were then delivered to the homes of those in isolation. For medical needs PHC’s had the provision to deliver the medicines with the help of police and fire force department. The medical needs were categorized accordingly. Lifesaving medicines including medicines for cancer, diabetics etc. were given priority.

A team of media surveillance was launched to observe media in response to plenty of misinformation and fake news. The team was assigned to monitor each and every social media platform for comments, posts, pages and accounts to control the spread of fake news and misinformation related to covid19.The media surveillance team was linked to the media team of the District Collectorate Pathanamthitta. People who are not responding were tracked. They are monitoring District collector’s Facebook page and the comments posted in the page etc.

One of the most important and a herculean task of data handling were embarked on March 16 2020. Its aim was to keep a track of people coming home from other countries, Covid positive patients, their primary/secondary contacts etc. The amount of data collected was overwhelming at first, but we were able to tackle that by bringing in more dedicated resource persons.

By collecting these data we were able to;

• Track and record details of flight passengers. People from high risk countries were noted high prior.

• Enter 8000+ data to the special surveillance system of the National Centre for Disease Control Portal. Link - https://ncdc.gov.in/

• Consolidate daily screening data of guest workers, report, Data of symptomatic workers, total screened workers and details of their respective contractors.

• Collect information on International travellers -Incoming flight details of Pathanamthitta residents and were sorted into different blocks based on their address.

• Sort data of interstate and inter district travellers based on presence of symptoms.

All collected data was kept confidential and was only shared with government organisations.

Screening passengers and migrants were started as a precaution method to track infectious in response to the panic situation.

AT THE SCREENING POINT

• Collected and listed out the details of international and interstate travellers.

• Educated the public regarding preventative tips for Covid19 • Provided safety gears like masks and gloves for public transport staff.

• Ensured sufficient number of hand sanitizers and soap at public places.

Fourteen transit points were arranged across all border points, including interstate and inter district cross points of the District, in response to the lockdown announcement by Central Government of India on 25th March 2020. A Team of maximum four volunteers assisted the checking process, along with police officers and a team of health officers. A team was arranged at the transit points to validate the travelers at the border points.

Total number of volunteers: 8 volunteers in 3 shift =24 volunteers in a transit point.

24 volunteers x 14 transit point: almost 168-300 volunteer along with police officers and health officers worked selflessly at these points.

TOTAL TRANSIT SCREENING POINT: 15

1. Idinjillam MC Road

2. MC Road Enathu

3. Manthuka MC Road

4. Kadampanad 7th mile

5. Adikkattukulangara

6. Mavelikkara Pandalam Road

7. Arattupuzha

8. Parumala - Mannar

9. Chakkulathukavu

10. Punalur PTA Road Edathara Jn

11. Payippad

12. Nedungadappally

13. Placheri, Ranni

14. Marur 26 Mile, Enadimangalam

THE FOLLOWING ACTIVITIES WERE DONE AT TRANSIT POINT SCREENING

• Temperature screening

• Listing out both interstate and inter district travelers.

• Provide important awareness tips to combat COVID 19 spread.

‘Vishapp Rahitha Keralam’ is an initiative by the government to place 1000 hotels that provide mid day meals at low price for the common people who couldn't afford it . It was one of the proposals of the previous budget. Later on the same was added to covid package under the newly formed social circumstances. A chain of janakeeya hotels by kudumbasree with association to the same programme has been started which is able to provide lunch for just 20 rupees and is successful ongoing for the betterment and nourishment of common people. A total of 749 hotels with 629 in villages and 120 in the city have been implemented.Of this 434 hotels have been started recently and 315 of them have been converted from existing kudumbasree hotels. An average of 60,000 meals are being prepared per day collectively. And in addition to these 3278 kudumbasree members are getting permanent wages from the programme,thus allowing them to find an occupation and helping them be self reliant and independent women. With the help of Local Self Government Institutions and Department of Public Distribution kudumbasree is able to give 10 rupees subsidy for each meal from the janakeeya hotels. In addition to these revolving funds upto rupees 40,000 will be granted by the kudumbasree for management of hotels and for buying essential properties like plates and other utensils for the smooth functioning of the body.The current fair,water bill and rent for the place needed for the functioning of the same will be provided for free by the local self government of the locality.An amount of 30,000 for the hotels formed in corporation limits will be allotted by the corporation and hotels formed in villages will be granted 20,000 by the block panchayat and an addition of 10,000 by the district panchayath as the working grant.

There are about 14 volunteers posted in taluk hospital. By around mid of the month of May, the Collectorate requested assistance in the smooth functioning of certain services of the hospital like crowd control and data entry, as it was difficult for the existing staff to smoothly handle these functions due to the increasing number of cases in the hospital. Hence they requested for support from our side to help them overcome the problems, and as a result, we had appointed a team of volunteers residing in the nearby areas for this purpose. Initially, it started with a team of 5 volunteers, which was expanded later to about 15 depending on the requirements of the hospital.

The nature of work carried out by the hospital volunteers was as follows. At the start, these volunteers would interact with the patients and their attendants and reinforce the education regarding hand hygiene, social distancing, and other aspects of the covid protocol, which was already being done by the hospital staff, but it was extremely difficult to reach out to such large numbers of patients by the limited number of staff. The responsibility of the volunteers was crowd control activities and ensuring that covid protocols are strictly adhered to by giving proper education and guidance to patients in collaboration with the hospital staff. The volunteers were also actively involved in data management along with the hospital authorities, like data entry of covid positive cases, helping out with contact tracing and management of call centers, etc. The volunteers have done a commendable job in supporting the hospital management in the smooth implementation of covid policies and procedures, and are still carrying out their work admirably.

Volunteers assigned for traveller management were divided into two groups, i.e. for interstate and for international traveller management. Upon their arrival, the volunteers collected their information regarding symptoms, means of travel, etc. and directed them to either home quarantine or to Covid Care Centers after discussing with the concerned authorities. Travelling facilities were provided to those who required.

During covid 19 lockdown, one of the major obstacles faced was migrant screening and providing food and accommodation facilities. Deprived of essentials, migrant labourers staged protests at Paippad in Kottayam district. In these stringent condition actions needed to be done quickly and effectively. Initial step taken was to make arrangements timely so that food packets reached the residence of the needy. It was during this process the poor living conditions of migrant workers and the health-related problems surfaced. So, an action plan was devised to check their health conditions so as to help them. As a part of this Head count of the migrants were taken coordinated by Tahsildars of respective Taluks assisted by village officers and labour commission. Dr. Sreekumar was in charge of migrant screening in the whole of Pathanamthitta district. Total of 5 teams each comprising a junior health inspector, vector inspector, medical volunteer, non-medical volunteer and a driver. The districts were divided into municipalities and screening was done based on that. The team was equipped with masks, gloves and thermal scanners to analyse and check the health conditions of the migrants. Data such as name, contractors' info, place of residence, residence, etc, were collected via Air Table application. Separate meetings were conducted each day analysing the problems faced by the migrant workers and their solutions were discussed and met with. Labours not living under the supervision of their contractors were moved to nearby school buildings. During the last stage of screening, an Innova car with an attached thermal scanner was organised to avoid direct contact with the team. With 45 to 48 days, by the middle of May, 26,156 migrant labours were scanned, out of which 78 were found symptomatic and none positive.

From October 1st to October 30th, section 144 of the Criminal Procedure code was enforced in the state, disallowing the gathering of more than 5 people in the context of the worsening covid pandemic situation. In order to implement the same successfully, the government appointed a team of gazetted officers for each taluk to carry out executive activities and report violations of the rule. These officials are referred to as sector magistrates, and there were 65 such designated officers for the 6 taluks of Pathanamthitta. The sector magistrates had the responsibility of making visits to their allocated panchayats to see if there was crowding of people, issuing a warning to erring persons, and reporting offenses if violations continued. They had the power to register a case against the persistent violators and were required to make all these entries in the covid 19 jagratha portal and report regularly to the government. The assistant collector had deputed volunteers in each of the 6 taluks to help the sector magistrates. The activities of the volunteers included communicating with each sector magistrate in their taluk on a daily basis to enquire about any requirements to be fulfilled, like consolidating the reports, forwarding the reports to the Collectorate, collaborating between the corresponding officials as and when required, and any other work entrusted to them by the officials.

In April, the Kerala government commenced distributing food kits to every ration cardholders via ration shop and volunteers amid the coronavirus epidemic. The food kits were prepared for distribution by Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation depots. Initially, food kits were distributed to each ration cardholder on a timely basis. Since a large quantity has to be delivered within a limited time, a well-organized system was required for packing and distribution with more workers. Therefore, a team was formed under the guidance of Mr. Siyad A. Karim to facilitate and ensure the distribution of food. The team called out Sannadha Sena Volunteers and allocated them to packing centres nearest to their Panchayat. Later members from various youth clubs came forward and joined the mission. Almost 280 volunteers were involved in the packing process at various 24 SUPPLY CO depots with precautionary measures following the COVID protocol. Our pride volunteers done a tremendous job in cooperation with SUPPLY CO under the surveillance of the collectorate team. Thanks to the great coordination and intervention of volunteers, SUPPLY CO was able to pack and feasibly distribute the food kits within two weeks.

In the wake of more cases of Covid-19 were being reported in the country and in more countries across the world, the Kerala Government had launched the second phase of monitoring. At this stage, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Kerala, was issued advisory on the three tiers of patient management system. As per the issue, the three COVID dedicated facilities has formed.

1. COVID Care Centre (CCC)

2. COVID First Line Treatment Centre (CFTLC)

3. Dedicated COVID Hospital (DCH)

COVID Care Centre was started to facilitate quarantine facilities for international and interstate travelers. Initially, every international returnee and interstate returnee without adequate quarantine facilities at their place of residence were quarantined at Covid Care Centres. However, citizens over the age of sixty, children under the age of ten, and pregnant women were excluded from the CCC quarantine and allowed to home isolation. On May 6, passengers commenced to return via aboard and through state border centres. Although, Pathanamthitta had earlier prepared 192 CCCs in six taluks of the district and had organized a well-coordinated volunteer team under the guidance of Honorable District Collector P B Nooh IAS to monitor the CCCs. The team is being coordinated by Arun Anil as volunteer team leader, actively engaged in monitoring and ensure the proper functionality of the entire CCCs volunteering system.

In each CCC, a team of Administrative officers, four volunteers, and cleaning staff were assigned after training them. Teachers in government-aided schools were appointed as administrative officers. The specially trained "Sannadha Sena volunteers" were volunteered at CCCs. The Administrative activities were handled by the Panchayat and Panchayat Secretary and health care activities were handled by the Primary Health Care Centres. To monitor and ensure the activities of panchayat level, coordinators were appointed in every taluk. Moreover, a team of volunteers by the direction of Arun Anil was also there to monitor and guide the volunteers to achieve good coordination and to ensure the proper functionality of the CCCs. At the initial stage, about 300 volunteers were worked CCC and 20 volunteers were assigned to the collectorate team.

Report and Documentation is a team assigned to record and review all the volunteering activities and functions of all departments into an accurate data. For this, a team of five volunteers had organized and coordinated by Kavya Sreekumar. This aimed to have an entire document with all details of volunteers and their duties as well as to mention the work flow of various departments. A daily consolidated report of all activities of department wise volunteers was made correctly and had uploaded to the authorized platform.

It helped to review and analyse the volunteerism of each department. Allowed volunteers to improve and schedule their work in an organized way. In the wake of more cases of Covid-19 being reported in more countries across the world, they have conducted research on Covid-19 including Corona virus, History of pandemics, Covid-19 around the world, Countries surveillance strategy, Covid-19 Pathanamthitta. The research was a great success and helped to learn more about Covid 19.

ACTIVITIES

· Made a complete list of all the volunteers registered for Sannadham.

· Consolidated report of everyday volunteer activities

· Collection of details with solid proof like photos

· Proper uploading of every document to authorized platform.

· Migrant workers call centre volunteer response data analysis and sorting for report generation

Thula Month Pooja

As per the instruction of the Government of Kerala, Sabarimala, which was closed for a while due to Covid’19 was reopened for five days on 16^th October 2021 for the monthly poojas of Malayalam month Thulam.

As per the guideline issued by the Travancore Devaswom Board(TBD), only 250 people were allowed to enter the temple for prayers per day. The Board further mentioned that all pilgrims need to take a COVID-19 test at least 48 hours before reaching the hilltop shrine and producing a negative certificate will be mandatory for all. And pilgrims arriving without the certificate were instructed to undergo a COVID-19 test at the base camp at Nilakkal. Covid protocols and guidelines were strictly monitored by the Department of Health.

For the smooth coordination and assistance for rapid antigen test at Nilakkal base camp, Deputy DMO requested for volunteers. DC Volunteers were deployed for the duty of five days.

Annual Mandala-Makaravilakku Season

The two-month-long annual Mandala-Makaravilakku season at the Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa Temple, located in Pathanamthitta district began on 16^th November in 2021.

Prior to the Mandala-Makaravilakku Season, the Kerala government issued an order to ensure that no Covid’19 Patient entered Sabarimala for the pilgrimage. The entire pilgrimage was through a virtual queue system thereby we could regulate the usual heavy rush. Also various other measures were taken to ensure a smooth pilgrimage in the wake of the pandemic. A health advisory issued by the Kerala State Department of Health and Family Welfare has advised that all pilgrims bound for the Sabarimala must produce a Covid-19 negative certificate done 24 hours prior to reaching the base camp of Nilakkal. Also, Antigen testing facilities were arranged at the base camp. Those who tested Covid positive were given proper treatment, including those from other states. All arrangements including ambulance facilities were ensured by the Government Medical Colleges in Pathanamthitta and Kottayam and also by the private hospitals of these districts.

Volunteers have been on duty since the first day of the Mandala-Makaravilakku season. In various shifts, they worked 24×7. Volunteers accompanied the medical team at Nilakkal which included Doctors, Nurses, HI/JHI, and Attenders. They managed the queue at Nilakkal properly and avoided unwanted rushes. Data entry of all the pilgrims were done in real time. Many antigen testing kiosks were set up in the base camp. Volunteers assisted the medical team in the kiosk also. When any pilgrim was spotted Covid positive, volunteers ensured that they were taken to the hospital and all the contacts with the patient were traced and instructed them to return back. Because of the timely intervention of volunteers, the District Administration and Health Department ensured the strict following of Covid Protocol during the entire season.

The first wave of the global pandemic was creating havoc in the life of common people. The number of active cases in the district was on continuous rise. According to the World Health Organization, older people about the age of 60 were included in the high-risk category. So, the district administration decided to launch a program for promoting reverse quarantine among them. Reverse quarantine is a method of protecting the vulnerable people from getting infected by advising them to stay inside the safety of their home and thereby limiting their exposure to the deadly virus. So, a pilot project was launched within the limits of Pathanamthitta Municipality. On behalf of this project, a call centre was launched by September 2020 managed by the volunteers along with NHM staff. The call centre volunteers regularly enquired about the health conditions of the elderly people. There were around 5000 senior citizens in Pathanamthitta Municipality. Volunteers also developed an application called 'VAYORAKSHA APP’ which provided them access to services of doctors, self-check up and essential items like medicines and non-medical items. Elderly people were instructed to download the Vayoraksha Mobile Application in their smartphone from the playstore with the help of volunteers. A survey was conducted to get an idea of the smartphone users or the people who have access to a smartphone through their family members in their home. The survey results came out that only 50% of them have access to smartphones. The people who don't have smartphone access were contacted by the volunteers on a regular basis. Around 200 volunteers were deployed on field to assist people to install and use the Vayoraksha App.