The State government has empowered all the officers from the Director of Public Health, Commissioner of Vaidya Vidhana Parishad, district collectors and municipal commissioners to take stringent measures necessary to prevent the outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) or its spread within their respective jurisdictions.
Drawing from The Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, the State government has framed ‘The Telangana Epidemic Diseases (COVID-19) Regulations, 2020’ as part of efforts to contain the spread of the virus. The 1897 Act, in the words of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, provides for officials of the government to take all such measures as may be necessary to contain the spread of the virus. “Once the provisions are invoked, they can even stop my car,” the Chief Minister said at a press conference on Sunday.
The regulations will come into force immediately and the government had taken care to ensure that they would remain valid for one year. They mandate that all hospitals, government and private, should provide COVID-19 corners for screening of suspected cases as and when so required by the authorities. In addition to screening the cases, the hospitals should record the history of contacts of the suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19.
People with a history of travel in last 14 days to a country or area from where COVID-19 has been reported, must voluntarily report to State Control Room (040-24651119)/ Toll Free number 104 so that necessary measures can be initiated by the designated officials. The officials would be authorized to isolate and/or admit into any identified hospital the person who develops symptoms simulating that of the COVID-19 infection. “The empowered officer may initiate action under the Section 188 of Indian Penal Code (48 of 1860) against the person who refuses to comply with such advice of isolation and/or admission,” the regulations said.
In case of those remaining asymptomatic, people with history of travel to the affected areas in the last 14 days should remain in home quarantine for 14 days from the day of exposure and must abide by the quarantine guidelines issued by the government from time to time. “Persons who do not observe home quarantine shall be quarantined in the facilities set up by the governments,” the regulations said.
People with travel history and symptoms should be isolated in the hospitals as per protocol and tests should be conducted accordingly. Information of all such cases must be immediately sent to the State Integrated Disease Surveillance (IDS) Unit and the district collector/municipal commissioner by the people managing the cases at the hospital.
The regulations caution against use of COVID-19 related information by persons/ institutions/ organisations without ascertaining facts and priori clearance of the designated officials concerned. This was necessary to avoid spread of any unauthenticated information or rumours regarding COVID-19. Violation of the instructions by any person/institution/organization would be treated as punishable offence and steps would be initiated accordingly.
The private healthcare institutions intending to test Covid-19 suspects must notify the State IDS unit about the same and the IDS on its part should arrange for monitoring and testing strictly as per the guidelines issued by the ICMR. The regulations also make mention of restrictions that could be imposed in a specific geographical area for containing the spread of the virus.
