Districts and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) will post dedicated, full-time personnel for quarantine activities, as Karnataka has stepped up surveillance amidst Omicron scare.
In a discussion with the nodal officers of the State COVID-19 war room and surveillance unit, wherein enhancing surveillance and designating contact-tracers and quarantine-watchers for detection of Omicron cases was the focus, it was decided that the Contact Tracing application and Quarantine Watch application will be activated “with necessary re-orientation” to all staff from BBMP and district health authorities.
A circular said currently, about 300 COVID 19 cases are being reported daily in Karnataka and the Test Positivity Rate (TPR) has been around 0.25% to 0.30% for some time. The Variant of Concern - Omicron - is spreading rapidly across the globe and so far, 19 Omicron cases have been detected in Karnataka, it said.
On Wednesday, Karnataka reported 321 new cases and four deaths. As many as 211 were from Bengaluru Urban.
To sustain gains achieved so far in surveillance, containment efforts and to make best efforts to prevent occurrence of the third wave of COVID-19 infections in the State, it is necessary to trace, track, and quarantine the primary and secondary contacts of positive persons more effectively, the circular said.
“The primary and secondary contacts are to be identified within 24 hours of reporting of COVID-19 positive cases. The primary contacts should be tested on the first day and again on the eighth day and home quarantined for seven days from the date of positive reporting,” it said. Similarly, international travellers from high risk countries need to be quarantined for seven days from the date of their arrival, until the follow up and repeat RT-PCR test on the eighth day, and home quarantined for seven days from reporting, it added.
Healthcare personnel, i.e., Public Health Inspecting Officers, Community Health Officers, and ASHAs who are doing activities of contact tracing, quarantine watch, and home isolation watch, will continue to do them. Further, all COVID-19 positive persons need to be triaged by the medical officer – PHC and team on ground as per prevailing instructions (physical triaging). Tele-triaging (over phone) shall be re-initiated at the State-level and triaging information would be recorded in Index application (BBMP) and State Line List (rest of the districts), the circular said.
“Wherever necessary and to match the demand on ground, further additional teams to carry out the above mentioned activities have to be deployed by BBMP/district administration in consultation with the State nodal officers. Central War Room, BBMP, along with zonal and assembly constituency-level war rooms and all District War Rooms need to be re-activated,” it added.
The Integrated Testing App will also be rolled out on pilot basis in BBMP area and if found feasible, would be considered for a larger roll out, the circular added.
