‘Monitor workplaces to prevent outbreak’

The officials have also been instructed to ensure the vaccination of vulnerable groups. Adherence to Standard Operating Procedure at industries and  services  establishments  need to be monitored and enforced through TN Public Health  Act,  1939, by  appointing an Area Health Inspector, Block Health Supervisor and technical   healthcare   workers,  said  the  instruction  by  Directorate  of  Public  Health  and Preventive Medicine.

The  surveillance needs to be done every week, and  symptomatic  staff  members  should be identified and sampling, isolation, contact  tracing  and  disinfection  need  to  be done.

Health inspectors or sanitary inspectors should  submit a report on the action taken. The  vaccine  coverage  at  workplaces  should  be  100  percent, it added. For  workers coming from outside, special  transportation  facility  should  be arranged without depending on public transport, and  vehicles  should  carry  only  30-40  per  cent  of  capacity.

Medical  insurance  is  mandatory  for  workers. The standard operating  procedure  insists  that  large  gatherings  or  meetings  of  10  or  more  persons  should  be  discouraged  and  that  at  least  six feet distance should be ensured while seating in job sites and at gatherings, meetings and training sessions. Director  of  Public  Health  and  Preventive  Medicine  Dr  TS  Selvavinayagam said  workplaces need to adhere to protocols to ensure that there were no outbreaks, which   was   a   concern earlier this  year.