Patients with Omicron to be treated in special location, according to the Ministry of Health

The Ministry of Health issued a directive on Wednesday for states to guarantee that all instances of Omicron infection be treated at approved COVID-19 facilities with a dedicated isolation space allocated just for patients with the new strain.

In a letter signed by Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, the Ministry directed state health departments to guarantee that no cross infection occurs, saying that healthcare staff must take necessary steps to avoid transmission between them and other patients.

States have also been told to quickly track the primary and secondary contacts of positive cases on “mission mode”, and test them. “It is critical to track all contacts of such cases, quarantine them without delay, and test them as per the guidelines,” Rajesh Bhushan, Health Secretary, said in a letter.

He has also suggested that States can utilise the e-Sanjeevani telemedicine platform, call centres, and plan home visits by special teams to the contacts under home isolation and quarantine.

Omicron-positive patients have been reported in Maharashtra, Delhi, Karnataka and Rajasthan.

The Government has asked States to keep a close watch on new clusters of COVID-19 positive cases, vaccination breakthrough cases, and reinfection cases, and ensure prompt investigation of such events by their rapid response teams. “They should send all positive samples from these events to designated genome sequencing labs of INSACOG,” Mr. Bhushan added.

The Health Ministry has also said that it would be difficult to determine the true level of infection spread in the absence of sufficient testing. States have to be on guard due to the onset of winter, increased pollution in some parts of the country, and the prevalence of influenza and severe and acute respiratory illnesses.