Kangra Administration in Himachal, launches endcovid portal

Dharamshala: In order to detect persons with influenza-like illness (ILI) in a timely manner, District Administration, Kangra has today launched an e-service called Early Notification & Detection of COVID-19 (ENDCOVID). The ENDCOVID portal will be hosted on the link endcovidkangra.com
This service has been conceptualized and designed by the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) team of District Kangra.
Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Prajapati tells, “As the name suggests itself, this system will boost the efforts of the District Administration in early detection of potential COVID-19 suspects. All information received on the system is kept confidential. Bilingual application form will also help Hindi knowing people. It is a responsive site and easily opens on mobile, can easily be filled from a mobile”.
DC added that Influenza-like Illness (ILI) is considered to be symptomatically indicative of COVID-19. Hence it becomes important to trace, track and treat persons with such symptoms in order to prevent the local or community transmission of COVID-19. The ENDCOVID service provides an option to a citizen who feels symptoms of cold, cough, fever or shortness of breath to report the fact of symptoms to the District Administration through a simple application on the portal.
Prajapati said, “The symptoms can range from very mild, mild, moderate to severe. The application form requires the applicant to disclose his name, address, mobile number, symptoms, and co-morbidities and travel history. Once the application is received by the District Administration, the information will be shared with the Health Department. A team of the Health Department will proactively contact the applicant and ascertain the possibility of COVID-19. In case of suspicion of COVID-19, sampling and testing of the applicant shall be done”
He said that in the whole process, if the symptoms are found to be very mild or mild the applicant is advised to stay at home in a separate room from the family also until the Health team contacts him. If applicant’s condition worsens before contact by the health team, the applicant will be advised to visit the nearest Flu & Fever Clinic established by the Health Department.
ADC Raghav Sharma elaborates, “The service has many advantages to the system. Firstly, the timely reporting of ILI symptoms from the origin of the information .Secondly, since the Health Department team will be proactively getting in touch with a patient and the patient would stay at home and not visit any health facility immediately, it is likely to prevent exposure of health facilities to potential COVID-19 cases and keep them running without a hitch for treating other patients. Thirdly, the travel history and nature of symptoms reported by the patient will help the Health Department teams to prioritize the sampling and testing of potential suspects.”
This system would supplement the ongoing surveillance mechanism set up the District Administration where a surveillance official visits the home quarantined persons to inquire about their symptoms and reports it for his check-up and testing if symptoms are found.
The acknowledgment slip generated at the end of the application process recommends the applicant to also obtain professional tele-consultation through the e-sanjeevaniopd portal launched by the Government.
As the inflow of persons from outside will increase with easing lockdown conditions, it is important to offer such alternatives to symptomatic persons to report their condition while staying at home in isolation from the community until the Health Department teams can respond to their requests.