Govt prepared to deal with COVID-19: Vardhan
New Delhi: With India reporting 44 cases of Coronavirus, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Monday called upon states to adopt a cluster containment strategy making district collectors more accountable and laid emphasis on contact tracing and strengthening district surveillance teams to avoid widespread community transmission.
Vardhan, who chaired a review and coordination meeting with Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Health Minister Satyender Jain, mayors of the Municipal Corporations of Delhi and senior officials of various departments, said the government is prepared to deal with the novel coronavirus outbreak and his ministry is sending directives, including guidelines, to states in all languages on ways to contain it.
He also emphasised the need for states and Union territories to adhere to core capacities for disease preparedness and response like surveillance, laboratory diagnosis, hospital preparedness, logistic management, capacity building and risk communication, the ministry said in a statement.
He also advised states to stay alert and identify isolation facilities to accommodate large number of confirmed/suspected cases in each district as well as their logistics requirements.
He urged that the hospitals need to make proper arrangements for the segregation of the symptomatic patients and regular patients while visiting the health facility.
Meanwhile, the government has directed the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) to prepare quarantine facilities with a bed capacity to admit over 5,400 people to deal with cases of coronavirus across the country.
These forces, comprising the Central Reserve Police Force, the Border Security Force, the Central Industrial Security Force, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, the Sashastra Seema Bal and the National Security Guard, have also been asked to create 75 isolation wards as part of preparations to combat possible large-scale outbreak of the virus.
Officials said that the Union home ministry has asked these forces to create a total of 5,440-bed capacity at 37 locations in the country.
75 isolation wards are also to be created at these locations by these forces, they said.
"The aim is to build capacity. These forces have also been asked to earmark and depute their respective teams of doctors, paramedics and sanitation officials who will man these quarantine facilities," a senior home ministry officer said.
The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) force, which is already running such a quarantine centre in Delhi's Chhawla area, has also been asked to prepare training modules for specialist trainers of these forces.
ITBP experts will hold workshops and prepare online modules for these forces to make them understand the management and other medical protocols to run a quarantine centre for coronavirus affected people, officials said. The second batch of people, including Indians and foreigners, evacuated from Wuhan in China are still living at the ITBP centre.
ITBP Director General (DG) S S Deswal, they said, will also be holding an awareness session on these measures on a free-to-air Doordarshan channel. All these forces have also been asked to conduct awareness and outreach programmes as part of preparing the community against the coronavirus, they said.
Amid the coronavirus scare, a man has been booked for allegedly dumping used face masks at an open space in Maharashtra's Thane district, police said on Monday.
The matter came to light after some television channels showed clippings of used masks stored at a godown in Bhiwandi township on Saturday.
Taking suo moto cognisance of the reports, district health officer Manish Renge directed the Food and Drug Administration, Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) and the police to carry out an inspection of the godown.
However, even before the authorities could complete their task, the accused, Imran Shaikh (22), allegedly removed all the masks from the godown and dumped them at an open space at Purna village on Retibunder Road in Bhiwandi, a police official said.
Later, videos of the masks dumped in the open were also telecast by some channels following which the police registered a case against Shaikh on Sunday evening.
Shaikh has been booked under Indian Penal Code Section 269 (whoever unlawfully or negligently does any act which is likely to spread the infection of any disease dangerous to life), Narpoli police station's senior inspector Maloji Shinde said, adding the accused has not yet been arrested.
The Arunachal Pradesh government on Monday decided to screen all the students returning to the state from Delhi by a special train, an official statement said. The decision was taken during an emergency meeting chaired by Health Minister Alo Libang. Libang also reviewed the preparedness and the strategy adopted for cluster containment of coronavirus in the state.
It was also decided that laboratory testing for Covid-19 will be carried out on only those with symptoms such as cough, cold, running nose, difficulty in breathing and having travel history to any of coronavirus affected countries.
The samples (throat swab) will be collected at Tomo Riba Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (TRIHMS) at Naharlagun, near here, Baken Pertin General Hospital at Pasighat in East Siang district and all district and general hospitals in the state, the statement said.
The samples would be sent and tested at Indian Council of Medical Research in Dibrugarh and Guwahati Medical College in Assam.
Qatar has temporarily banned entry of people coming from India and 13 other countries in the wake of coronavirus outbreak.
The temporary ban will also be applicable on people coming from Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Syria and Thailand.
"This decision comes as a preventive measure due to the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) worldwide," Qatar government said in a statement dated March 8.
According to the statement, the temporary suspension of entry would affect all individuals intending to enter from these countries, including visas upon arrival, those with residence or work permit, and temporary visitors. agencies
