Union Health Ministry Issues SOP On COVID19 Containment & Management In Peri-urban, Rural & Tribal areas

New Delhi: The Union Health ministry has issued a detailed Standard Operating Procedure for containment and management of Covid-19 in the peri-urban, rural and tribal areas of the country. The SOP urges the state governments and local administration for active surveillance in all the villages and tribal areas. It also calls for setting up of 30 bedded Covid Care Centers in rural areas.

This SOP comes at a time when many states are reporting an increase in the number of Covid-19 infections from the rural areas. It calls for enabling communities, strengthen primary level healthcare infrastructure at all levels to intensify COVID-19 response in peri-urban, rural & tribal areas, while continuing to provide other essential health services.

The government has also said that CHOs and ANMs should be trained in performing Rapid Antigen Testing. Provision of Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) kits should be made at all public health facilities including Sub-centres (SCs)/ Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs) and Primary Health Centres (PHCs). These patients should also be counseled to isolate themselves till test results are available.