Mumbai: The Maharashtra government appointed task force, headed by Dr Sanjay Oak, has informed the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) health department that if any of its centres is found to have a CoVID-19 patient or staff, the centre should be immediately fumigated and its surface cleaned with 1 per cent sodium hypochlorite. The centre should be closed for more than 24 hours and only patients who come in contact with the positive patient should be tested.
Dr Oak’s advisory comes close on the heels of an increase in the confirmed cases in the city following the rise in the number of tests conducted by the civic body.
Further, all the staff and patients who were not in contact with the positive patients should continue dialysis at that centre. Those healthcare workers (doctors, technicians and nurses) with full personal protective equipment (PPE) exposed to the patient need not be quarantined or tested unless they develop symptoms.
Dr Oak said, those healthcare workers who are not wearing a proper PPE and have come in contact with the patient should be considered close contact and quarantined. Those who do not develop symptoms by the seventh day can rejoin work immediately. However, those who develop symptoms should be tested on the seventh day and, if positive, treated as per the guidelines issued by the BMC and the state and central government.
Those patients who test positive for CoVID-19 should be guided to a hospital for quarantine and dialysis.
SRA issues circular on the permission for pre-monsoon work
The Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) has given approval to complete pre-monsoon measures by strictly following the guidelines for the containment of the virus. These permissions will be granted by the concerned executive engineer. The authority released a circular on Monday, three days after the civic body issued a circular on the approval for pre-monsoon work and not new work in the city.
SRA deputy chief engineer RB Mitkar said the developer, through an architect or license surveyor, will make an online application for carrying out pre-monsoon work to the respective executive engineers.