COVID-19: Containment ops to stop 28 days from last case, says govt

Volunteers wearing facemasks urge residents to stay home at the cluster quarantine declared Gulbai Tekra area after residents dismantled barricades amidst the lockdown, in Ahmedabad on Friday. Pic/AFP

Containment operations will be scaled down if no secondary positive case of COVID-19 is reported from a quarantine zone for at least four weeks after the last confirmed test has been isolated and all his contacts have been followed up for 28 days, the Union Health Ministry said. According to the ministry's 'Updated containment plan for large outbreaks COVID-19', a containment operation (large outbreak or cluster) is deemed to be over 28 days from the date the last case in that zone tests negative.

The closing of the surveillance for the clusters could be independent of one another provided there is no geographic continuity between clusters. However, the surveillance will continue for severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) and influenza-like illness (ILI). States shall ensure that all required steps are taken to contain clusters within the large outbreak and chain of transmission is broken, it said.

The document stated that in India also, clusters and large outbreaks have been noted in parts of the country and unless they are contained in time, the risk of further spread remains very high. Large number of cases has been reported from Maharashtra, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

The Centre has declared 170 hotspots - 123 hotspot districts with large outbreaks and 47 hotspot districts with clusters. Besides, it has identified 207 non-hotspot districts with clusters. In a bid to utilise the extended lockdown period to the maximum extent to contain the spread of Coronavirus, states have been asked by the ministry to classify districts witnessing higher number of cases or high growth rate as hotspots, districts where some cases have been found as non-hotspots, and those which have reported no cases as green zones.

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