DPH issues guidelines on testing, management

A day after 33 samples from Tamil Nadu were tested positive for Omicron variant, the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine brought out a new comprehensive guideline, under which all symptomatic individuals with history of international travel in the last 14 days and contacts of confirmed cases should be tested.

DPH Dr T S Selvavinayagam instructed Deputy Directors of Health Services to ensure that all symptomatic frontline workers involved in containment and mitigation, SARI cases and asymptomatic but direct and high-risk contacts of confirmed cases should tested between day 5 and 10 of coming into contact with the person. Also, persons hospitalised with influenza like illness and symptomatic individuals among returnees and migrants should be tested within seven days of illness.

International passengers from at-risk countries should fill a self-declaration form and carry a negative RT-PCR report. Upon arrival, they should pay for testing at the airport and wait till the result is declared. Those tested negative will be in home quarantine for seven days and retest on eighth day.

The samples of those testing positive should be sent for genomic testing at INSACOG laboratory network, and the patients should be managed at separate isolation facility. Those coming from non-risk countries should report if they have any symptoms or test positive and should self-isolate, said the DPH.

Special teams should be formed to actively search for cases through house-to¬-house surveillance, and a health worker should be assigned for containment zone for every 50 houses in rural areas and 100 houses in urban areas.