THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the state intensifying its surveillance against Covid-19, the number of samples to be tested for the virus is also going up. To avoid samples piling up at the nine testing centres in the state, the health department has decided to streamline the functioning of the centres. It will now be the respective district surveillance officers (DSOs) who will dispatch the samples collected from their districts to the designated testing centre.
While doing so, biosafety and biosecurity precautions as mandated by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) will be followed. “Scaling up the testing of samples is one of the ways to win the battle against Covid-19. But for that, streamlining is needed. At present, the state has nine testing centres and it has been decided to distribute samples from 14 districts among them. This will ensure that no testing centre will have to handle a flood of samples.
The rearrangement of districts will be carried out once more testing centres get ICMR approval,” said an officer of the health department. As per an instruction given to the DSOs, they are entrusted to send repeat samples of those tested ‘positive’ to the designated labs for follow-up testing until the test becomes ‘negative’. Whereas, the nodal officers in charge of the testing centres will have to record the results in a specialised format.
The reporting of results should be in a confidential manner. As per the current testing strategy of the ICMR, samples will have to be collected from asymptomatic individuals who have undertaken international travel (those who are in home quarantine or if they become symptomatic by having fever, cough, difficulty in breathing, all contacts of laboratory confirmed cases, all symptomatic health care workers, all hospitalised patients with acute respiratory illness or fever and cough and/or shortness of breath).
Two test positive, 7,072 more persons under observation T’Puram: Two people tested positive for Covide-19 in the district on Saturday. One of them is a UK returnee who reached on March 21 and was under observation at home and the second person is a Dubai returnee who was isolated at the Medical College Hospital after detecting symptoms on arrival on the same day. The UK returnee is from Pattoor and the Dubai returnee is from Malayinkeezhu. As many as 7,072 new patients were placed under observation on Saturday. There are 22 people under isolation in General Hospital, 45 in Medical College Hospital, 4 in Peroorkada District Model Hospital, nine in Neyyattinkara District Hospital, one in Nedumangad District Hospital, 9 in SAT Hospital, three in Ananthapuri Hospital, 12 in SUT Hospital and four in KIMS.
Careful action at the local level, community kitchens active
T’Puram: The community kitchens set up in the wake of the Covid-19 lockdown have provided food to over 7,000 people, with twice as many expected to avail themselves of the service in the coming days.Minister Kadakampally Surendran said 86 community kitchens were started in various panchayats and six within the corporation limits. These will be increased to 25 soon. “Food will be served to all who are helpless in some way. There will also be a mechanism to provide meals at J20 per person. Those who have returned after deep sea fishing will be in quarantine.”
Education min addresses students on social media
T’Puram: General Education Minister C Raveendranath addressed school students on social media to stay safe at home. In his official Facebook page, Raveendranath instructed the teachers to call up parents of students in their respective schools as part of building confidence and to ensure that the children are staying safe at homes. “Every teacher should take the respons-ibility on the safety of children. They should advice the parents and children not to step out of their houses. Those students whose examinations were over should indulge in creative work, like reading books. Other students can focus on their studies as a few examinations are yet to be completed,” he said.
KIMS Hosp starts tele-consultation
T’Puram: THE KIMS Hospital here has started a teleconsultation facility for patients. The facility launched in the wake of the Covid-19 spread is to help people get expert consultation without visiting the hospital. The patients can consult the doctors through video-conferencing. For details, visit: telehealth. kimsglobal.com or call 04712941400.