AP Govt orders active surveillance in the wake of Omicron
The district officials of Chittoor, Krishna, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, Kadapa, and Kurnool will set up help desks at local airports to screen international travellers arriving on domestic flights
By Newsmeter Network Published on 1 Dec 2021 12:24 PM GMT
Vijayawada, December 1: Andhra Pradesh government has framed some guidelines for active surveillance of the Covid-19 disease keeping in view the reported cases of new SARS-CoV-2 variant (Omicron) across the world.
The AP government asked the District Collectors of some districts to establish help desks at international airports in Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad to conduct RT-PCR tests on the international travellers, whose origin is in Andhra Pradesh.
In the event of any passenger belonging to Andhra Pradesh testing found positive for the disease, the teams will coordinate with the local administration to ensure isolation at respective places.
In case it is negative, the complete residential address of such travellers will be collected and they will have to undergo home quarantine at their residences. They will be subjected to RT-PCR tests after seven days of arrival. The positive samples will be sent for whole-genome sequencing. The district teams will communicate the details of travellers to the officials of the respective mandals to ensure strict home isolation.
The field-level teams will also collect samples from the international travellers, who arrived in the recent past in the state.
The district officials of Chittoor, Krishna, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, Kadapa, and Kurnool will set up help desks at local airports to screen international travellers arriving on domestic flights to their respective destinations in the state.
Based on the guidelines issued by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the state health department has listed 12 high-risk countries, including South Africa, China, Bangladesh, and New Zealand. The foreign returnees travelling from and transiting through these countries will be subjected to rigorous screening and testing. Even their contacts will be closely tracked and tested.
The Government has directed all the district medical and health officials to establish help desks at railway stations in their respective districts to conduct RT-PCR tests on the international travellers coming by trains.
