The Centre on Wednesday asked States to ramp up testing among vulnerable groups in the 353 districts that have not reported any COVID-19 cases so far.
The ‘unaffected’ districts need to be under enhanced surveillance for influenza like illnesses (ILI) and severe acute respiratory illness (SARI), the Centre said. It recommended that the ILI and SARI cases be tested and asked the States to make preparations to set up dedicated COVID Care Centres, COVID Health Centres and COVID hospitals in these districts as well.
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Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba held a video conference with Chief Secretaries and Directors General of Police of all States on Wednesday where a presentation on “COVID-19 Containment Measures” was shared. The States were also informed about the revised guidelines issued by Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) that need to be implemented from April 20 onward to give relief to specified sections of people from the ongoing lockdown that has been extended to May 3.
The Centre used the presentation to reiterate to States its recommendation that hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) be administered to “health workers in the field and those working in hospitals” as the number of COVID-19 affected patients has crossed the 11,000 mark.
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Emphasis was also laid on ensuring that “personal protection of health workforce is of prime importance and sufficient stock of PPEs/N95 masks etc. to be made available in the districts” in accordance with the guidance on rational use of personal protective equipment (PPE).
The Centre said that in severe cases where healthcare professionals were infected, the patients “should be treated with HCQ in the prescribed dose”.
The Union Health ministry has repeatedly cautioned that HCQ is only for the specific use of healthcare workers and that it has “side effects”.
The Centre noted that while there were 170 districts defined as “hotspots” or red zones, there were another “207 districts that have reported cases and could be a potential hotspot”. It asked States to undertake “pre-emptive action for cluster containment in all these districts”.
A senior State government official, who attended the meeting, said they had been given a “tutorial” on the roadmap ahead as the States would have to sit on the drawing board to chalk out a strategy to implement the guidelines. “States cannot be more liberal than the Centre, instead we will be stricter but some relief ought to be given to people to earn a livelihood,” said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “Inter-State movement, however, is strictly opposed at this stage,” the official added.
The “hotspots” have been divided into two categories —123 districts with “large outbreaks” and 47 districts classified as “clusters”. A district could be excluded from the hotspot category if no cases were reported there in the last 28 days.
The “large outbreak” category was defined as those districts reporting more than 15 cases that may not be epidemiologically linked and where “localised increase” in COVID-19 cases occurred within a defined geographic area — a village, town, or city.
A cluster is a district with “less than 15 cases in a limited area” but where cases are epidemiologically linked.