Guidelines issued to check spread of coronavirus in Uttarakhand

The officials were also asked to conduct random testing on the state's borders

With the WHO expressing concern over the emergence of COVID-19 variant 'Omicron' in several countries, the Uttarakhand government on Tuesday asked officials to follow the guidelines issued by the Centre for international arrivals.

Health Secretary Pankaj Kumar Pandey also asked officials to conduct random testing on the state's borders.

He asked officials concerned to follow the 'Guidelines for International Arrivals' released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on November 28.

To further enhance testing and keep a close tab on the spread of the coronavirus in the state, district authorities are requested to test all healthcare and frontline workers in accordance with the latest ICMR guidelines, Pandey said.

If found positive, their samples should be sent to designated genomic sequencing lab for further investigation, he said.

Districts are requested to re-activate and re-strengthen district and block

level control rooms and ensure that these are operational 24X7 with a dedicated helpline number.

Data related to current hospital bed occupancy is to be updated on a

regular basis on covid19.uk.gov.in. Similarly, data related to essential drugs is to be kept updated on https://cdashboard.dcservices.in/.

In a separate letter to the State Disaster Response Force, Pandey asked it to re-activate and re-strengthen the SDRF COVID-19 contact tracing team and the SDRF COVID-19 home isolation monitoring team.