Mohali to up Covid sampling to check spurt

Tribune News Service

Mohali, November 24

The district administration has decided to make all-out efforts to increase Covid sampling to curtail the spike in coronavirus cases.

Directions issued to Civil Surgeon

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The Civil Surgeon was asked to ensure 24×7 availability of sampling team at the district hospital along with two dedicated mobile sampling teams for the needy round the clock.

While reviewing the Covid-19 status with SDMs and SMOs of the district, Deputy Commissioner Girish Dayalan here today directed to make all-out efforts to increase Covid sampling to check the spurt in cases.

“Testing may be increased two-fold with special focus on vulnerable sections coupled with aggressive contact tracing,” said Dayalan.

Dayalan directed the SDMs to prepare an advance weekly sampling plan targeting vulnerable sections. The District Development and Panchayat Officer (DDPO) was also directed to conduct similar exercise and prepare the weekly plan for the rural areas in consultation with sarpanchs.

The Civil Surgeon was asked to ensure 24×7 availability of sampling team at the district hospital along with two dedicated mobile sampling teams for the needy round the clock.

Entrusting the responsibility of overseeing the contact tracing to the Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development), he was told to ensure maximum physical contact tracing nothing less than 15 persons per case by dedicated sampling teams.

The nodal officers were asked to ensure home isolation of asymptomatic patients and regular check by control room/doctors. “Keep a tab on equipment and bed availability and ensure availability of L2 and L3 facilities to the needy patients,” Dayalan said.

The control room might be re-strengthened with requisite staff to be operational round the clock to sort out the grievances of callers, he said. Strict enforcement measures with respect to compliance of health protocols and advisories were also stressed upon.