Published 08:14 IST, August 8th 2020
Grocery shops, vendors could be potential COVID spreaders, test them: Health Min to states
Rajesh Bhushan asserted aggressive testing should be conducted on grocery shops, vendors to detect & treat COVID infection promptly & avoid its spread further.
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As the COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the country at an alarming pace, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has pointed out that grocery shops, vegetable, and other vendors can be potential spreaders of COVID-19 infection to a large number of people. He asserted that aggressive testing should be conducted of such people in order to detect and treat the infection promptly and avoid its spread further. This comes after the cases being reported in newer areas in the country which did not see a rise in the COVID-19 cases earlier.
"The COVID-19 pandemic is now spreading to newer areas in the country. There are likely to be scattered cases, clusters of cases or large outbreaks being reported from districts. The primary aim is to control outbreaks, especially in new locations. The focus at the same time should be to save lives at all costs. While we have done so far done better than many other countries in this respect, our aim should be to further reduce mortality and ensure that it does not cross the 1 per cent mark," Bhushan said in a letter written to all Chief Secretaries and health secretaries of the State.
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"There can be potential hotspots for the spread of infection like industrial clusters with the closed work environment, people coming from high prevalence areas, other high-density areas such as slums, prisons, old age homes etc," the letter added.
"In addition, grocery shops, vegetable and other vendors etc can be potential spreaders of infection to a large number of people. Testing in such areas and of such people should be taken up proactively as per Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines," the health secretary said.
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Bhushan emphasised on aggressive testing so as to ensure the detection of cases in early stages and proceed with prompt isolation and treatment. Contact tracing must be done immediately in the next three days after a person has been found to be COVID-19 positive and the contacts must be quarantined.
"Weekly death audits must be performed to assess the determinants of death such as age differentials, comorbidities, late reporting to hospital and clinical protocols that were followed. This will help identify challenges to be addressed and will facilitate effective case reporting and ensure timely and required medical interventions," it added.
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India's COVID-19 case tally crossed 20-lakh mark with a highest single-day spike of 62,538 cases on Friday. India's total COVID cases as on August 7 stand at 20,27,074 of which 6,07,384 are active while 13,78,105 have recovered and 41,585 people have died so far. The lockdown has been extended to August 31 under 'Unlock 3'.
(With ANI inputs)
08:14 IST, August 8th 2020