COVID-19 strain:Gujarat for strict compliance with Central SOP

As per a circular issued on Tuesday, all chief district health officers and medical officers of eight municipal corporations in Gujarat have been directed to follow these guidelines.On Tuesday, four passengers, including a British national who landed in Ahmedabad in an Air India flight from London tested positive for coronavirus, officials had said.

The Gujarat health department has directed officials to ensure ''strict'' compliance with the Central guidelines regarding passengers arriving from the UK, where a new mutated strain of coronavirus has been detected. As per a circular issued on Tuesday, all chief district health officers and medical officers of eight municipal corporations in Gujarat have been directed to follow these guidelines.

On Tuesday, four passengers, including a British national who landed in Ahmedabad in an Air India flight from London tested positive for coronavirus, officials had said. As per the guidelines issued by the Union government, ''those international travellers from the UK who arrived in India from November 25 to December 8 will be contacted by district surveillance officers and advised to self-monitor their health. If anyone amongst them develops symptoms, they will be tested by RT-PCR test.

The Union health ministry had issued a set of Standard Operation Procedures (SOP) stating that ''If a passenger is tested positive, genetic sequencing will be done. The District Surveillance Officer has to ensure daily follow up of passengers under observation for 28 days, starting from the date of their arrival''. India has suspended all flights to and from the United Kingdom from December 23 to December 31.