ICMR Waives Off Testing Of Contacts Of Covid Cases

ICMR Waives Off Testing Of Contacts Of Covid Cases: The cases of Covid have been rising at an alarming rate past few weeks. Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) issued a new advisory for contacts of active Covid patients. The chief medical body of the country has waived off testing requirements for contacts of confirmed Covid cases unless they come under high-risk categories like more than 60 years old or have comorbidities.

It has also exempted testing of asymptomatic people undergoing surgical or non-surgical invasive procedures including pregnant women hospitalized for delivery unless warranted or symptoms develop.

ICMR Waives Off Testing Of Contacts Of Covid Cases

ICMR shared an advisory on the ‘Purposive Testing Strategy for Covid-19’. It said that no emergency procedure including surgeries and deliveries should be delayed for lack of tests. It also said that admitted patients may not be tested more than once a week.

For interstate travels, you do not need to get tested either.

The daily rise in cases has reached nearly 1.8 lakh mark. The advisory also said that asymptomatic patients that are being discharged from a Covid-19 health facility need not be tested during the time of discharge. Asymptomatic patients that were put in home isolation do not need to get tested again as well.

The advisory also said that a positive point-of-care test and the molecular test are to be considered confirmatory without any repeat testing. Symptomatic people that have tested negative on home/self-test should take an RT-PCR test for confirmation.

The government is working to control the number of positive cases in the country.

Meanwhile, India recorded 1,68,063 new Covid cases today, 6.4 percent lower than yesterday, which included 4,461 cases of Omicron variant. The country also reported 277 deaths in the last 24 hours due to coronavirus.

There will be no lockdown in Delhi, where the positivity rate is at a seven-month high of 25 per cent, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said today.

“Don’t worry, we will not impose a lockdown,” the Delhi Chief Minister told news agency ANI on the surge in cases in the capital. Delhi is likely to report about 22,000 new cases today.

“We are expecting somewhere around 20,000-22,000 new COVID-19 cases in Delhi. The positivity rate has been around 24-25 per cent for the past two days. We are enforcing strict restrictions like night curfew in Delhi out of compulsion,” Mr Kejriwal said after visiting a top hospital to assess Covid treatment facilities.

He remarked that most cases in the third wave were showing mild symptoms compared to the deadly second wave last year driven by the Delta variant. “Omicron is milder but highly contagious,” Mr Kejriwal added.

All private offices in Delhi have been ordered to shut down and send their employees into Work-From Home. Only those providing essential services will be exceptions to the new rule, it was decided in a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Agency (DDMA). Restaurants and bars have also been shut and only takeaways and home deliveries are allowed.

“At the DDMA meet we requested central government officials to cover the entire NCR (National Capital Region) for restrictions. They assured us on the same,” Mr Kejriwal said.

Cases in the city may peak in the next 48 hours or “definitely this week”, according to Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain, commenting on the possibility of another weekend curfew.

The exceptions to the Work From Home order are private banks, offices providing essential services, insurance companies, pharma companies, microfinance companies, lawyers’ offices and courier services.

Also Read: Do We Really Need Covid-19 Vaccine Boosters? Here Is What Experts Say?