Bhubaneswar: The Health and Family Welfare (H&FW) department Thursday released a new set of guidelines to check delay in Covid-19 testing and delivery of reports. The norms were announced by PK Mohapatra, Additional Chief Secretary of the H&FW department. It has been circulated to all district collectors, commissioners of urban local bodies and chief district medical officers (CDMO).
The department emphasised on early dispatch of samples collected in the districts to the nearest labs and quick dissemination of reports. It will enable persons who test positive to follow Covid-19 protocols thereby preventing the spread of the disease.
“It is essential that all persons are tested timely and quick action is taken for isolation of positive cases. In many districts protocols are not being followed due to which there is delay in testing and isolation of affected persons,” Mohapatra said in his letter to the officials.
The new norms said that all Covid-19 appropriate behaviour like social distancing and wearing of masks must be followed at all testing centres across Odisha. The persons who go for the tests have been asked to be in quarantine until they receive their reports.
Mohapatra also urged the district administrations to be proactive in conducting tests. “RT-PCR samples should be sent from district to the laboratories on the same day of collection. The number of RT-PCR samples sent by the districts in a day should be as per the target allotted. This will then prevent a backlog of samples in laboratories and delay in testing,” the letter said.
“District teams should check results of the persons tested that are received from laboratories via email, several times a day. All persons should be informed of the result at the earliest and positive cases isolated immediately,” it added. Mohapatra said that the decisions have been taken after a review meeting with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on the issue. He said all officials will have to follow the directives without any deviation.