Covid declared epidemic, 270 isolation wards set up

Tribune News Service

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Chandigarh, March 12

The Haryana Government on Thursday declared Covid-19 an epidemic though no confirmed case has been reported from the state.

“Covid-19 declared epidemic in Haryana,” Health Minister Anil Vij said ina tweet. Over 270 isolation wards with 1,206 beds have been set up in government and privatehospitals to deal withany contingency. Rohtak’s premier PGIMS has been designated as the tertiary care centre for treatment of critical patients.

Vij said an appeal had been issued to people who had travelled abroad in the last 14 days to self-isolate themselves for at leasttwo weeks. “In view of the threat posed by the corona virus, Haryana has become one of the first states in the country to declare it as epidemic, he said.

New regulations called Haryana Epidemic Covid-19 Regulations 2020 have also been issued and district magistrates/deputy district magistrates/civil surgeons and other health officials in each district have been directed to take preventive steps against covid in their respective areas.

All hospitals across the state have been directed to create and maintain data on all suspected cases and of those who have come in contact with such patients, an official said. Under these regulations, all hospitals — government and private — should have flu corners for the screening of suspected cases of covid. Hospitals must record travel history of the person if he/she has been to any country or area where covid-19 has been reported.

In addition, the history of coming in contact with a suspected or confirmed case of covid shall be recorded. In case the person has any such history in the last 14 days and the person is asymptomatic, he must be kept in home quarantine for 14 days from the day of exposure.

No private laboratories have been authorised to take test samples for covid in the state. All such samples will be collected as per the guidelines of Government of India and these will be sent to designated labs by the District Nodal Officer appointed by the Health Department, Haryana.

If a suspected case of covid refuses admission or isolation, officers authorised in Section 3 of these regulations will have powers to forcefully isolate such case for a period of 14 days from the onset of symptoms or till reports of lab tests are received or such period as may be necessary.

Any person, institution or organisation found violating any provision of these regulations shall be deemed to have committed an offence punishable under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860).

No positive case so far, but 1,754 under observation

There is no positive covid-19 case in Haryana. As many as 44 samples of suspected cases were sent for tests till Wednesday, of which 40 tested negative, while the reports of four are awaited. As many as 1,754 persons who returned from China are under surveillance. Gurugram tops the list with 730 persons followed by Karnal (157), Kurukshetra (132), Ambala (118), Sirsa (76) and Yamunanagar (72), Hisar(70), Kaithal (57), Panchkula (54), Panipat (46), Bhiwani (41), Jind (31), Rewari and Rohtak (25 each).

‘Flu corners’ in all hospitals

• The state government has issued various regulations under The Haryana Epidemic Disease, COVID-19 Regulations, 2020, to contain the spread of the deadly virus
• These regulations come into force with immediate effect and will remain valid for one year
• All hospitals in the state have been directed to set up ‘flu corners’ for screening of suspected Covid cases
• Among other guidelines, no private laboratories have been authorised to take or test Covid samples in the state

Outbreak, epidemic & pandemic, What it means

Outbreak: Small, but unusual

It is understood to be a sudden rise, often small, in the cases of a disease in a particular place

Epidemic: Bigger & spreading

It is a large outbreak among a particular population or region, such as the current situation in China

Pandemic: International and out of control

There is no specific number of countries that a disease must touch for the World Health Organization to classify it as a pandemic. Till now, it declared only two pandemics in history — influenza in 1918 and H1N1 in 2009.