Guidelines formed for management of bodies infected with COVID-19, says Health Ministry

New Delhi: With the country reporting the third death due to novel coronavirus, the Heath Ministry on Tuesday said that guidelines for management of bodies infected with the disease have been issued to define a set of protocols in handling such cases.

Health Ministry, Joint Secretary, Lav Aggarwal said the COVID-19 cases in India have risen to 138 and the number of deaths stood at three.

"Guidelines for dead body management towards precautions, infection prevention and control measures, handling of body and environmental disinfection have been issued," Aggarwal said.

"The main driver of transmission of COVID-19 is through droplets. There is unlikely to be an increased risk of COVID infection from a dead body to health workers or family members who follow standard precautions while handling body.

"Only the lungs of dead COVID patients, if handled during an autopsy, can be infectious," the guidelines stated while listing out standard precautions to be followed by health care workers while handling bodies of those who die of the disease.

The number of coronavirus cases in India on Tuesday rose to 138, which includes 24 foreign nationals.

More than 5,700 people who came in contact with those that tested positive are under rigorous surveillance, Aggarwal said.

He also said that guidelines have been issued for the private sector laboratories intending to initiate COVID-19 testing.

Laboratory tests for coronavirus at private labs should be offered when prescribed by a qualified physician as per the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines for testing.

"Private labs testing is to ensure real time reporting to Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) and the ICMR headquaters for timely initiation of contact tracing and research activities," he said.

ICMR will share the standard operating procedure for laboratory testing and provide positive controls for establishing the test as soon as the concerned private laboratory has procured the primers, probes and reagents

Adoption of commercial kits for testing should be based on validations conducted by the ICMR, National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune.