Test only symptomatic people, BBMP commissioner tells staff

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Monday instructed its staff not to waste the Covid-19 testing kits and test only those individuals who have symptoms of the disease.

Taking part in a virtual meeting in the wake of rising Covid cases in the city, BBMP Commissioner N Manjunatha Prasad directed zonal officials to ramp up surveillance and vaccination efforts.

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“Don’t do testing just for the sake of it,” he declared before listing the categories of people that should be tested: individuals who walk in with symptoms, ILI and SARI cases, primary and secondary contacts and travellers from overseas and other states.

The kits should not be wasted by testing asymptomatic people, Prasad told officials.

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The testing efforts should be focused on crowded areas such as bus stands, markets, malls, cinema halls and marriage halls.

Stressing the importance of contact-tracing and follow-up of home-isolation cases, Prasad said that it had come to their notice that the lower-rung staff were not properly collecting the data, such as addresses and phone numbers, of people who get themselves tested. “This hinders efforts to trace the infected people,” he pointed out and warned of suspending health officials for any lapses at primary health centres.

Stating that about 85% of the infected individuals are isolated at homes, Prasad instructed the jurisdictional PHCs to keep track of them and check their health updates, especially when the patients are aged 60 or above. In case of any abnormalities, they should be shifted to the hospitals immediately, he added.

The BBMP chief ordered the PHC staff to collect data from local pharmacies on people buying medicines for Covid-19 symptoms. They should be traced and tested, he stressed.