Coronavirus in India: 283 cases till now; change in test guidelines comes into effect, hospitalised patients with severe acute respiratory illness to get tested

Coronavirus in India: The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has issued new guidelines for COVID19, in the wake of growing number of confirmed cases in India. In a set of new guidelines, ICMR has directed all hospitalised patients with severe acute respiratory illness, fever and cough and/or shortness of breath to get tested.

Coronavirus in India: As the number of confirmed cases of COVID19, commonly referred as coronavirus, grow rapidly in India, The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has devised a new strategy to curb the spread of the global health pandemic. On March 21, ICMR issued new guidelines in which tests was made mandatory for hospitalised patients with severe acute respiratory illness, fever and cough and/or shortness of breath.
Earlier, the criteria for coronavirus testing included all symptomatic individuals who have travelled internationally in last 14 days, all symptomatic contacts of confirmed cases and all symptomatic health care workers. All asymptomatic direct and high-risk contacts of a confirmed patient are also required to get themselves tested for coronavirus once between day 5 to day 14 of coming in their contact.
In a latest circular, ISMR has also appealed to all asymptomatic individuals with recent international travel history and all their family members to home quarantine themselves for 14 days. They should get tested only if they develop signs of common signs and symptoms of coronavirus.
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The inclusion of a new category of testing has been introduced as an attempt to halt the further spread of the virus and prevent India from reaching stage 3 of coronavirus, i.e. community transmission. Although no cases of community transmission have come to light, if it does happen in near future, ISMR testing strategy will revise the strategy to make it stage-appropriate.
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Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has shared that the total count of confirmed Coronavirus cases in India has reached 258 (including 39 foreigners) and 4 deaths. The four cases of death have been reported from Delhi, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra. On the contrary, the latest circular of ICMR says the number of confirmed cases has shot up to 271 as of March 21, 2020, 10 am.


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