'Test-Track-Treat': Government issues fresh COVID-19 SOP guidelines valid till April

In the light of an exponential surge in Covid19 cases the central government on Tuesday issued a TestTrackTreat TTT protocol in all parts of the country to ensure observance of pandemicappropriate behaviour by everyone and to scale up the vaccination drive by covering all the target groupsThe Ministry of Home Affairs MHA issued the SOP order with guidelines for effective control of the deadly pandemic which will be effective from April 1 and remain in force till April 30The main focus of the guidelines is to consolidate the substantial gains achieved in containing the spread of Covid19 which was visible in the sustained decline in the number of active cases continuously for about five monthsIn order to ensure that the resumption of activities is successful and to fully overcome the pandemic it is stressed on the need to strictly follow the prescribed containment strategy and observe the guidelines and SOPs issued by the Centre as well as states and Union Territory governmentsUnder the TTT protocol the Ministry has emphasised upon seven points in which it is directed to the states and the UTs to rapidly increase the proportion of RTPCR tests to reach the prescribed level of 70 per cent or moreIt is also advised that the new positive cases detected as a result of intensive testing need to be isolated or quarantined at the earliest and provided timely treatment Further as per the protocol the contacts of new cases have to be traced at the earliest and similarly isolatedBased on positive cases and tracking of their contacts containment zones shall be carefully demarcated by the district authorities at the micro level taking into consideration the guidelines prescribed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare MoHFW in this regard said the MinistryThe list of containment zones will be notified on the web sites by the respective District Collectors and by the states or UTs This list will also be shared with MoHFW on a regular basisWithin the demarcated Containment Zones containment measures as prescribed by MoHFW shall be scrupulously followed which include strict perimeter control intensive housetohouse surveillance contact tracing and surveillance for influenza like illness ILI and severe acute respiratory infections SARILocal district police and municipal authorities shall be responsible to ensure that the prescribed Containment measures are strictly followed and state or UT governments shall ensure the accountability of the officers concerned in this regardFor strict enforcement of wearing face masks hand hygiene and social distancing states and UTs may consider administrative actions including imposition of appropriate fines as per the guidelineNational Directives for Covid19 management shall continue to be followed throughout the country to enforce Covid19 appropriate behaviorStates and UTs have been authorised to impose local restrictions with a view to contain the spread of Covid19 based on their assessment of the situationThere shall be no restriction on interstate and intrastate movement of persons and goods including those for cross landborder trade under Treaties with neighbouring countries No separate permission or epermit will be required for such movementsAll activities have been permitted outside containment zones and SOPs have been prescribed for various activities These include movement by passenger trains air travel metro trains schools higher educational institutions hotels and restaurants shopping malls multiplexes and entertainment parks yoga centres and gymnasiums exhibitions assemblies and congregationsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever