Chennai civic body cuts fever survey staff as Covid cases decline

The Greater Chennai Corporation has begun to cut the number of Fever Survey Workers (FSWs) in the civic body following a reduction in the number of Covid-19 cases within the city limits.

The FSWs were going door-to-door collecting information of residents in Tamil Nadu having fever and influenza-like illness symptoms and made them undergo tests to detect or rule out the presence of Covid-19 infection.

The FSWs were paid Rs 391 per day at the end of every month. Sources in the Greater Chennai Corporation told IANS that the civic body is planning to cut down the number of FSWs by 30 to 60 per cent as the Covid-19 infections have started to decline within the corporation.

As per a serosurvey done by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the Greater Chennai Corporation has taken the decision to slash the FSWs. In Tiruvattiyur zone in Chennai, the number of FSWs have now been reduced to 211 from 374 numbers.

However, in Adayar zone where there was a larger incidence of the number of fresh and active cases of Covid-19, the contracts of the FSWs have been extended till September end.

In certain areas of Chennai, the number of FSWs continues to be retained mainly due to the prevalence of infected cases within these wards. The Chennai civic body is contemplating to use the services of these FSWs for other data collection on behalf of it.

A senior official of the Chennai Corporation told IANS, "The FSWs had a door-to-door interaction with the residents and are familiar with the areas where they were working. This would help the corporation to use the services of these FSWs for some other data collection for the civic body in the coming days and we are contemplating on that."