The primary and secondary contacts of Covid positive patients are henceforth required to be identified by the BBMP and respective district health officials within 24 hours of reporting of the Covid positive case, said Health Secretary T K Anil Kumar in a circular.
The primary contacts should be tested on day 1 and again on day 8, and home quarantined for 7 days from the date of Covid positive reporting, he said.
Similarly the international travelers from high-risk countries need to be quarantined for seven days from the date of their arrival, until the follow-up and repeat RT-PCR test on day 8. If the primary/secondary contacts test positive, they are to be treated and managed as per the state Covid protocol.
At present the healthcare personnel - public health inspecting officers, community health officers and ASHAs, who are doing contact tracing, quarantine watch and home isolation watch, shall continue doing them.
The districts and BBMP shall post dedicated and full-time persons separately for contact tracing and quarantine/home isolation watch immediately, the circular said. The tracing, tracking and quarantine activity conducted has to be reported in the contact tracing application and quarantine watch application, which shall be activated, with necessary reorientation, it added.
Further, all Covid-19 positive persons need to be triaged by a medical officer of the PHC and team on ground as per prevailing instructions (physical triaging). Over and above, this tele-triaging (over phone) shall be re-initiated at state-level and triaging information would be recorded in the index application (in the BBMP) and in the state line list (in the rest of the districts).
Wherever necessary, and to match the demand on ground, further additional teams should carry out the above mentioned activities. They have to be deployed by the BBMP/district administration in consultation with the state nodal officers.
Central War Room (CWR), BBMP, along with zonal and assembly constituency level war rooms and all district war rooms need to be re-activated and made fully functional to closely monitor and supervise the activities.
The integrated testing app shall be rolled out on a pilot basis in the BBMP limits and if found feasible would be considered for a larger roll out.
With a view to be well prepared to handle any anticipated spike in Covid cases and respond effectively, the BBMP and all district authorities are instructed to ensure the compliance of the above instructions, said Kumar, in his order.
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