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New Delhi: On Friday, India reported the highest increase in coronavirus cases in a day — a jump of 30 positive cases.

According to the statement issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), an apex health research body, “a total of 236 individuals have been confirmed positive among suspected cases and contacts of known positive cases.”

“A total of 15,404 samples from 14,514 individuals have been tested for SARS-CoV2 as on 20th March 2020 6 PM IST.”

However, in an earlier update till 10:00 AM, 206 cases were found positive.

With an increasing number of cases, the Modi government has decided to change its strategy.

Now, the government will admit all suspected patients of COVID-19, unlike earlier where patients with travel history or contact history were considered for testing.

However, the advisory hasn’t mentioned clearly that all patients with COVID-19 symptoms will be tested.

New strategy

According to the new advisory issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, “no suspected COVID-19 patient should be turned away from any hospital and the admission of any such patient should be notified immediately.”

Similarly, all pneumonia patients, the advisory said, must also be notified so that they can be tested for COVID-19.

The government has advised patients not to come for routine visits to the OPD if it can be avoided or postponed.

“OPDs may be organised in such a manner that patients exhibiting flu-like symptoms are attended separately from other patients and spaced out so as to avoid overcrowding,” advisory said.

Hospitals advised to prepare for influx

“We have been informed that all hospitals will now test patients for COVID-19 irrespective of travel or contact history,” said Dr Girdhar J. Gyani, director general of the Association of Healthcare Providers, India (AHPI), which represents 2,500 speciality and 8,000 smaller hospitals across India.

The advisory has instructed all hospitals to mobilise additional resources including masks, gloves and personal protection equipment, anticipating the influx of patients.

“Healthcare personnel should be trained for dealing with any foreseeable emergencies,” it said.

It further adds, “All doctors, nurses and support staff in different specialties, including pre and para clinical departments, should be mobilized and trained in infection prevention and control practices.”

“Hospitals must procure sufficient numbers of ventilators and high flow oxygen masks in preparation for future requirements. All hospitals must ensure that they have adequate trained manpower and resource pools for ventilator and ICU care.”

Also read: By failing to scale up testing coronavirus, India may have lost crucial time

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