Tamil Nadu revised its COVID-19 guidelines under which testing will only be carried out for the high risk contacts in the state.
Chennai: Tamil Nadu revised its COVID-19 guidelines under which testing will only be carried out for the high risk contacts in the state. According to the revised guidelines issued by the state public health department, people under the high-risk category include elderly persons and those with comorbidities.
The health department said it is focusing that asymptomatic patients need not be tested as it wants to ensure that those with symptoms are tested and cleared or if found positive to commence the treatment. There was no need for panic but caution is necessary and the state was ready with the health infrastructure unless the number of cases increases drastically in a short period of time, the health department said.
On Saturday, the Test Positivity Rate (TPR) in Tamil Nadu was recorded at 15.3 per cent while the state health department is monitoring the situation closely to prevent any major surge that may lead to the crash of the health infrastructure. Tamil Nadu recorded 23,989 new cases and 11 fatalities. This took the total number of cases reported so far to 29,15,948 and the death toll to 36,967. Chennai continued to witness a steep increase in cases. there were 8,978 fresh cases in the city followed by Chengalpattu with 2,854, Coimbatore 1,732 and Thiruvallur 1,478 cases, the bulletin said. Tenkasi is the only district to see the lowest at 21.
Passengers, who returned from other States by road from Jharkhand (3), Bihar (2), West Bengal (2), one each from Gujarat, Sikkim, Kerala and Telangana, added to the total 23,989 positive cases on Saturday (January 15), according to a bulletin from the State Health Department.
Tamil Nadu’s revised COVID guidelines | Key Points
- Only high-risk contacts of coronavirus patients will have to undergo COVID testing. The high-risk category includes elderly persons and those with comorbidities.
- People who must be compulsorily tested also include those with symptoms like fever, sore throat, loss of taste, loss of smell, high-risk contacts, and incoming and outgoing international travellers.
- Asymptomatic patients undergoing surgical/non-surgical invasive procedures and pregnant women who are hospitalised should not be tested unless it warrants a test.
- Hospitalised patients must not be tested more than once a week and no surgeries should be delayed due to lack of tests.
