All individuals need not be screened for Covid-19: Health Ministry on coronavirus

india

Updated: Mar 11, 2020 13:45 IST

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in its release on ‘Covid-19 testing strategy’ has stated that not all individuals need to be screened for coronavirus.

According to the ministry, there has been no community transmission of Covid-19 in the country currently, therefore “all individuals need not be screened”.

“The disease is primarily reported in individuals with travel history to the affected countries or close contacts of positive cases,” the release read.

Those with a travel history to any of the coronavirus-affected nations or individuals who were in close contact with the ones affected by the virus should stay under a 14-day quarantine and get tested for the infection.

Those individuals who do not show any symptoms of the disease after 14-day quarantine are not required to get tested for coronavirus.

In addition to this, “all individuals evacuated and quarantined from Wuhan, China and Diamond Princess ship, Japan should be screened for novel coronavirus,” a press release by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) read.

Throat and nasal swabs from individuals are collected and sent for Covid-19 testing.

ICMR-National Institute of Virology, Pune is the apex laboratory for reconfirmation of any positive samples as well as the quality assurance for the testing of samples for SARS-CoV-2.

Besides, ICMR-National Institute of Virology, Pune, 51 Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratories (VRDLs) and National Centre for Disease Control, New Delhi are performing testing for Covid-19.

With over 100,000 infected across the globe, the coronavirus outbreak has killed over 3,500 people globally. India has reported over 50 cases of the infection so far.