The Chhattisgarh Health Department on Tuesday updated its COVID-19 testing criteria to include a bigger group of people at risk. The state will now also test people who have travel history to Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Kerala since March 10 and are showing symptoms like cough, fever, diarrhoea and/or breathing difficulty. The Health Department released a document informing the change in its testing strategy. “We are already following ICMR guidelines of testing anyone who is suffering from Severe Acute Respiratory Illness and testing asymptomatic high risk contact of the confirmed cases. Now, we want to test people who have travel history from February 1 till today. While only symptomatic patients who have travel history from February 1 to March 1 will be tested, from March 1, anyone who has traveled abroad, even if they are asymptomatic, they will be tested,” said a senior health official. The state will also test people who have travelled domestically and are showing symptoms. “With the spread of the diseases in these areas, we deem it prudent to test for virus if they show symptoms,” the official said. State Health Minister T S Singh Deo had earlier told The Indian Express that the state was in the process of revising its guidelines for testing. The state has currently conducted over 600 tests, of which eight have tested positive. Of the eight, two were discharged from hospital on Tuesday after they consequently tested negative. Here’s a quick Coronavirus guide from Express Explained to keep you updated: What can cause a COVID-19 patient to relapse after recovery? | COVID-19 lockdown has cleaned up the air, but this may not be good news. Here’s why | Can alternative medicine work against the coronavirus? | A five-minute test for COVID-19 has been readied, India may get it too | How India is building up defence during lockdown | Why only a fraction of those with coronavirus suffer acutely | How do healthcare workers protect themselves from getting infected? | What does it take to set up isolation wards?
