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The Centre on Friday asked all states to replicate the best practices implemented by Karnataka — including comprehensive contact tracing of Covid-19 cases and household survey covering more than 1.5 crore households — for containment of the pandemic.
The Union Health Ministry, issuing direction to other states, lauded the two initiatives taken by Karnataka that were developed as part of the ‘whole of government’ approach with the involvement of multi-sectoral agencies and supported by technology-based solutions and interventions. They effectively trace and track each case, thereby successfully containing the spread of the epidemic, the ministry said.
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“The Centre has asked the other states to adapt these best practices to their local context and replicate them for better management of the Covid-19 pandemic,” the ministry said in a statement.
The Centre also highlighted Karnataka’s widening of the definition of ‘contact’ to include both high-risk and low-risk contacts as defined by the Government of India. “The number of primary and secondary contacts in Karnataka were meticulously traced and put under strict quarantine,” it said.
The Centre said the state has been able to curtail the spread of infection in slums of big corporation areas through compulsory institutional quarantine of contacts residing in slums or similar areas. “It has also been made mandatory for all returnees / travelers coming to Karnataka to register on ‘Seva Sindhu’ portal, which enables the State to follow them for the next few days when they are in home / institutional quarantine. The ‘Quarantine Watch App’ is used to assist the field workers in enforcing the quarantine,” it said.
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The Centre also underlined the outreach campaign through Apthamitra tele-consultation helpline, being used to reach out to households at risk through Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) and outbound calls. “The households reporting anyone with Covid-19-like symptoms are triaged by a telemedicine doctor and further advised,” it said.
“The state has also formed Mobile Squads for enforcement of the home quarantine through community participation. In case information is received from the neighbor or public about violation of quarantine by any person, that person is moved to institutional quarantine,” it said.
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