As Covid cases decline, DPH revises testing guidelines

CHENNAI: As Tamil Nadu witnesses a declining trend in the COVID-19 cases, the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine issued revised guidelines for testing for the infection.

In community settings, only symptomatic individuals should be tested and routine screening is not required. In hospital settings, symptomatic cases are required to be tested. Asymptomatic patients undergoing surgical or non-surgical invasive procedures including pregnant women in or nearing labour and are hospitalized for delivery should not be tested unless symptoms develop.

The guidelines specified that asymptomatic individuals in community settings and patients who stand discharged as per home isolation guidelines need not be tested. The test is also not required for a patient being discharged from a COVID-19 facility as per revised discharge policy.

For the travellers, individuals undertaking inter-state domestic travel are also not required to be tested. For international travellers, all travelers should preferably be fully vaccinated as per the approved primary schedule of vaccination against COVID-19. The symptomatic COVID-19 passenger during travel shall be isolated as per standard protocol, passenger should wear mask, isolated from other passengers in the flight and shifted to an isolation facility subsequently.

Thermal screening should be done by the health staffs present at the point of entry for all passengers at the airport. On screening symptomatic passengers to be isolated and referred to designated medical facility as per health protocol.

The travellers have been advised for self-monitoring post arrival and in case of any symptoms, they can report on the 104 helpline or a health facility. The 2 percent passengers for random testing is not required anymore.

In a letter to the airport authorities and Joint Director of Medical and Rural Health Services, the Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine said that the updated guidelines should be followed and unnecessary testing of persons other than that mentioned in the guidelines should be strictly avoided.