New Delhi: In the wake of Omicron cases being detected in a few places in the country, the Union health ministry on Wednesday wrote to states and Union Territories, stating that patients of the new coronavirus variant have to be treated in designated Covid facilities with separate isolation area.
It has to be ensured that no cross-infection takes place and adequate precautions are taken by healthcare workers in these facilities to prevent transmission among other patients and healthcare workers, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said in a letter to states and union territories (UTs).
Bhushan advised them to regularly review and ensure that samples of positive cases of international travellers and their contacts as well as from emerging hot spots are promptly submitted to INSACOG labs for genome sequencing according to protocol.
Further to contain spread, it is imperative that states and UTs follow a mission mode and focused approach of quickly tracking primary and secondary contacts of positive cases and facilitate testing for them, he said. It is critical to track all contacts of such cases, quarantine them without delay and test them according to guidelines, Bhushan said.
Community surveillance should be prioritised to follow up positive case as well as contacts on a daily basis to monitor their clinical status and to keep a check on symptoms, he said in the letter.
“International travellers, who have arrived in the community, also need to be monitored by district surveillance teams and their testing on eighth day needs to be ensured if they have come from ‘at-risk’ countries,” the letter from the health ministry said.
States and UTs should also undertake increased surveillance for detecting unusual events such as new clusters of Covid positive cases, vaccination breakthrough cases and reinfection cases, besides prompt investigation of such events by their rapid response teams, it said.
They should send all positive samples from these events to designated genome sequencing labs of INSACOG for whole-genome sequencing, the letter said.
