With the spread of COVID, the decision has been taken to extend the Sentinel Surveillance. The inspection will be extended to ten categories, including offices, shopping malls, and markets. The priority category will be identified by the local bodies. COVID spreads are expected to rise sharply next month. In view of this situation, the decision was taken to extend the inspection to the Sentinel Surveillance Unit. All local bodies should be inspected weekly. The inspection is divided into ten categories according to the interaction with the public.
For example, employees in government offices, banks, shopping malls, and factories are included in a category. Five samples should be tested weekly in this category, 30 in case of the panchayat, 30 in case of a municipality, and 30 in case of a corporation.
Similarly, there will be 10 categories including health workers, guest workers, unorganized workers, clusters, container zones, and the elderly. Antigen testing will be performed. If the test result is positive, the contact detection and quarantine should follow the same guidelines as before. It is hoped that with the expansion of testing, clusters will be detected earlier and restrictions imposed.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that Covid-19 has been confirmed for 2406 people in Kerala yesterday. 352 persons from Thiruvananthapuram district, 238 persons from Kozhikode district, 231 persons from Kasaragod district, 230 persons from Malappuram district, 195 persons from Palakkad district, 189 persons from Kottayam district, 176 persons from Kollam district, 172 persons from Alappuzha district and 172 persons from Pathanamthitta district. A total of 167 persons from Thrissur district, 162 persons from Thrissur district, 140 persons each from Ernakulam district, 102 persons from Kannur district, 27 persons from Idukki district, and 25 persons from Wayanad district were diagnosed with the disease yesterday.
