‘Actively’ Follow Up: Health Secy Writes to States as 30 Nations, Including India, Confirm Omicron Variant

By Correspondent On Dec 3, 2021

Union Health Secretary, Rajesh Bhushan reiterates measures that Indian states should follow in the light of Omicron detection in the country. In a letter addressed to Chief Secretary, and sent to ACS/Principal Secretaries/Secretaries (Health) of all the States/UTs, Bhushan writes that current evidence, which is still evolving, suggests increased transmissibility of this VOC (Variant of Concern) and there is a need to actively follow-up. “We must, therefore, be extra vigilant in enforcing public health measures to contain its spread,” writes Bhushan.

The steps that Bhushan lists are as follows:

* Screening International Passengers: International passengers are arriving from both “At-Risk” and other countries to different States and Union Territories. All State Surveillance Officers (SSOs) have been provided an access to “Air Suvidha” portal of Ministry of Civil Aviation. “The portal must be accessed every day to know in advance the details of passengers coming to your State/UT from different international airports. This can be ascertained very easily through the destination address fed on the Air Suvidha portal in the self-declaration form of passengers. You can know who is coming to your State/UT by a simple search feature on the portal. An email explaining the action points, details and with IDs and passwords has been sent from this Ministry to States/UTs yesterday,” adds Bhushan.

The passengers coming into your State/UT must be followed up through the surveillance mechanism and tested as per the existing guidelines of international travel. States have been asked to review the same at their levels regularly.

*Constant vigilance to Break Transmission: Constant Vigilance regarding the transmission of any variant is essential. Enhanced Testing is the only strategy for detection of the virus- hence as per the earlier guidelines of ICMR and Ministry of Health, focused and strategic testing must be taken up in the State/UT, especially in and around new clusters of infection, says Bhushan.

*Contact Tracing: Contact tracing of all positive persons will remain the key to stopping the spread. A11 contacts of a positive person must be traced, quarantined and tested within 72 hours. Samples of all those who test positive must be sent for Whole Genome Sequencing expeditiously, and only to the laboratories tagged to the State/UT in the NSACOG network. “Kindly also put in place a system to ensure that sample quality is good and transportation to INSACOG labs is quick. As already intimated, ideally no samples should be sent to any lab which is not part of the INSACOG network,” cautions the health secy.

*Geeting People Fully vaccinated: Evidence indicates that fully vaccinated individuals are protected from the severity of the disease. Therefore, states should ensure that the remaining 1st and 2nd dose gaps in Covid vaccination in respective states/UTs are addressed and filled up through proactive measures.

* Following Covid Appropriate Behavior: This must be emphasized and enforced, especially in view of the higher transmissibility of ‘Omicron”. All efforts should be made to regulate crowds, enforce masking and social distancing at all times.

*Finding Clusters & Hotbeds: Bhushan further states that some clusters of infections have been reported from some places in the country. Active surveillance and testing is the key to the detection of such clusters or hotspots. He asks state authorities to keep actively following up the number of cases, rate of testing and positivity district wise in all districts. “Any uptick in cases and positivity must be immediately taken cognizance of and addressed through public health measures such as contact tracing, quarantining of contacts, isolation of those found positive and ensuring proper containment,” says Bhushan in his letter.

*Scaling up healthcare Capacities: Bhushan further states, “Please review once again the capacity enhancement of the health systems in terms of beds, oxygen, ventilators, isolation and quarantine facility, drugs, manpower etc. and take proactive measures utilizing the ECRP-I & ECRP-II financial resources provided by the Central Govt. to ensure that States/UTs are fully prepared for any eventuality.”