NEW DELHI: To keep a close eye on the new strain of coronavirus, which may be more contagious, the Department of Health has asked state governments to take the samples of passengers who tested positive on arrival from the UK to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, or other designated genome sequencing laboratory.
The new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) series released by the Ministry on Tuesday describes various activities to be undertaken at the point of entry and in the community for all international passengers who have traveled from or through the UK in the past 4 weeks traveled (from November 25 to December 23).
All of these passengers disembarking in India will undergo a mandatory RT-PCR test and also a spike gene-based RT-PCR test if they test positive.
In the case of positive cases, the patient will remain in a separate isolation facility coordinated by the respective national health authorities. If the sequencing is consistent with the current strain of virus circulating in the country, the ongoing treatment protocol, including home isolation or facility level treatment, will be followed according to the severity of the case.
Those found negative on airport RT-PCR testing are advised to quarantine at home.
The passenger manifest for the state of flights from the UK that have landed at various international airports in India in the past four weeks will also be conveyed by the Bureau of Immigration to the governments of the state and the integrated disease surveillance program.
The list of international travelers who have arrived in India in the past two weeks will be shared with the respective state or district official who will provide daily follow-up of passengers under observation for 28 days from the arrival date.
All contacts with the community, without any exception of the travelers who tested positive, would be quarantined in separate quarantine centers and tested between 5 and 10 days.
International travelers from the UK arriving in India from November 25th to December 8th (1st and 2nd weeks from November 25th) will be contacted by District Surveillance Officers and advised to monitor their health themselves. If any of them develop symptoms, they are tested by RT PCR and subjected to the protocols as stated in the SOP.
The new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) series released by the Ministry on Tuesday describes various activities to be undertaken at the point of entry and in the community for all international passengers who have traveled from or through the UK in the past 4 weeks traveled (from November 25 to December 23).
All of these passengers disembarking in India will undergo a mandatory RT-PCR test and also a spike gene-based RT-PCR test if they test positive.
In the case of positive cases, the patient will remain in a separate isolation facility coordinated by the respective national health authorities. If the sequencing is consistent with the current strain of virus circulating in the country, the ongoing treatment protocol, including home isolation or facility level treatment, will be followed according to the severity of the case.
Those found negative on airport RT-PCR testing are advised to quarantine at home.
The passenger manifest for the state of flights from the UK that have landed at various international airports in India in the past four weeks will also be conveyed by the Bureau of Immigration to the governments of the state and the integrated disease surveillance program.
The list of international travelers who have arrived in India in the past two weeks will be shared with the respective state or district official who will provide daily follow-up of passengers under observation for 28 days from the arrival date.
All contacts with the community, without any exception of the travelers who tested positive, would be quarantined in separate quarantine centers and tested between 5 and 10 days.
International travelers from the UK arriving in India from November 25th to December 8th (1st and 2nd weeks from November 25th) will be contacted by District Surveillance Officers and advised to monitor their health themselves. If any of them develop symptoms, they are tested by RT PCR and subjected to the protocols as stated in the SOP.