New effective guidelines for Covid-19 control enforce from April 1

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaMarch 24, 2021

In light of a recent spike in Covid-19 cases that have been observed in some parts of the country, the government of India Ministry of Home Affairs has issued an order with guidelines for containment of Covid-19 in the country which will be effective on April 1st.

In the guidelines, all the states and union territories (UTs) are to carry out the Test-Track-Treat protocol in all parts of the country; ensure that people follow the Covid code of conduct and vaccination drive to scaled up rapidly, to cover all the target groups. 

The Test-Track-Treat protocols in the guidelines included the states and UTs should increase the RT-PCR test by 70%; after intensively tested, the positive cases should quarantine at the earliest; the boundaries of containment zones should be set by district authorities; the containment zones should be updated on the websites by each state and UTs; within the containment zones there should be perimeter control, intensive house-to-house surveillance, contact training, etc; local districts, police and municipal authorities are responsible the prescribed containment measures are strictly followed by states and UTs.

Furthermore, there shall be no restrictions on the inter and intra-state movement of persons or goods, including those for cross-border trade under Treaties with neighbouring countries.

As per the guidelines, the states and UTs government shall promote Covid-19 appropriate behaviour in public and workplaces, wearing face masks, hygiene and social distancing. The government may impose local restrictions on the spread of COVID-19 at the district/sub-district and city/ward levels. Also, the SOPs, as they are updated from time to time, will be strictly enforced by the departments responsible for their strict adherence.

The guidelines also stated that the governments of all states and UTs needs to rapidly increase the pace of the vaccination, subsequent to the world’s largest vaccination drive against COVID-19 by the government of India.