Respective district administrations have issued orders making screening mandatory even for Punjab’s residents returning home from other States. As per the orders, the persons, who are bonafide residents of the State of Punjab and are travelling from other States
to the district, would be screened.
“If found asymptomatic, they will be placed in home quarantine for 14 days and if found symptomatic, tests will be conducted in Government facilities and the Health Department protocol management of such persons will be followed,” said Mohali Deputy Commissioners-cum-District Magistrate Girish Dayalan.
In similar orders, Bathinda District Magistrate B Srinivasan said that anyone entering the district would have to remain in home quarantine for 14 days. The decision has been taken to keep district corona free, he added.
Dayalan has directed all Supervising Officers, Surveillance officers and Rapid Response Teams to ensure strict compliance of this protocol and to keep a strict vigil on all such persons. It shall be ensured that a symptomatic person should be home quarantined with a Home Quarantine Board outside his home as per guidelines.
The Police and Health Department are to ensure the strict compliance of these orders and report be complied by Civil Surgeon on daily basis. This has been done with the intent of containment and prevention of the spread of Covid-19 and in compliance with the directions of Health and Family Welfare Department, he said.
ASYMPTOMATIC PREGNANT WOMEN TO BE TESTED
The Health Research Department of Indian Council of Medical Research has asked the States to conduct tests of pregnant women, residing in clusters or containment area or in large migration gatherings or evacuees centre from hotspot districts, presenting in labour or likely to deliver in the next five days even if they are “asymptomatic”.
Communicating the “strategy” for Covid-19 testing for pregnant women, the ICMR says that testing for pregnant women should be done as per ICMR testing strategy.
Asymptomatic pregnant women should be tested in health facilities where they were expected to deliver and all arrangements should be made to collect and transfer samples to testing facilities,” said the ICMR.
IMA LAUDS PUNJAB FOR SWIFT RESPONSE IN TACKLING Covid-19
Underlining stringent lockdown measures initiated by Punjab, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Wednesday lauded the state Health Department for aggressively tackling Covid-19 threat with prompt identification, testing and containment strategy. IMA, which has set up 25 bedded hospital with 10 ventilators near Jalandhar to be handed over to the Government whenever required, has also donated PPE kits in many districts besides providing training for management of Covid-19 patients and are also providing ambulance service at civil hospitals for testing.
PHASE-WISE SCREENING OF NEWSPAPER AGENTS, HAWKERS, DISTRIBUTORS FROM APR 23 IN MOHALI
Mohali District Administration has decided to undertake screening of all newspaper hawkers, agents and distributors in the entire district to allay fears in the minds of public besides for the safety of hawkers or agents.