The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has set up a war room under the Smart City Mission to fight the spread of COVID-19. PCMC recorded its first coronavirus death on Sunday.
In a statement, the PCMC said while it has initiated several steps to counter the spread of the virus, it is futile to fight a war without a control room to monitor the events, advancements and changes that need to be made. Keeping this in mind, the PCMC decided to set up a war room, which was done under the Pimpri Chinchwad Smart City Limited.
The war room uses tools like geographic information system mapping, data analysis, monitoring of quarantined households, and so on. A helpline number has also been set up to encourage citizens to directly reach out to the authorities. The war room is being used to ensure that all these queries can be answered by professionals. This is extremely important, especially in a time as sensitive as this, when fake news dominates the online sphere, PCMC said.
The PCMC has also launched an online assessment form through its PCMC Smart Sarathi mobile application, which has a COVID-19 Self-Assessment Test for citizens living in the PCMC area.
The test helps in identifying the health risk of any citizen, which is beneficial not only to citizens but also to the corporation as it can effectively gather data online. The data can then be analysed to design an action plan and an effective response to mitigate the risks. The app also has a quarantined movement check as a way to engage and identify the geographic location of quarantined patients.
If the location of the patient is more than 100 metres from the identified location (current location), an automatic update is sent to the health worker of that area. The PCMC has also started a campaign through the app wherein they appeal to citizens to volunteer for relief operations. The online campaign will collect volunteer data for future use.
A ‘Near-Me’ feature on the app shows if places nearby like hospitals, government offices and markets are functional. It also displays the location of free-food distribution centres and shelter facilities for the needy nearby.
Over 40 free food distribution centres, nine home shelters, more than 35 emergency dispensaries, and over 50 grocery stores providing home delivery have been listed. PCMC is planning to add more information in this section like address and contact details of shops providing essentials like grocery, medicines and vegetables, and hospitals authorised to carry out COVID-19 testing and treatment.
