“Oxygen Pheriwala: ” An Innovative Model for SARS-CoV-2 Screening in Resource-Limited Settings

The second wave of SARS?CoV?2 infection came as a hypoxic emergency and situation became worse in rural India, where undiagnosed COVID-19 patients died without any diagnosis or intervention. The primary aim of this innovative model was the early diagnosis of suspected SARS?CoV?2 cases, providing empirical treatment and timely referral to appropriate COVID care facilities. Fever was measured with infrared thermometer and oxygen saturation level with pulse oximeter. A total of 8203 people were screened, of which 274 persons were febrile and 69 (25%) were hypoxic too. Sixty?four out of 69 (93%) patients turned COVID?19 positive on reverse transcription?polymerase chain reaction. At the end of 3 weeks, 48/64 (75%) patients were successfully discharged. This model can be easily implemented in resource?limited regions to identify and prioritize the patients not only in this pandemic but also in outbreak of other communicable diseases.