New Delhi:- On Tuesday, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued new guidelines for effective control of COVID-19 which will be effective from April 1, 2021, and remain up to April 30, 2021. The main focus of the Guidelines is to consolidate the substantial gains achieved in containing the spread of COVID-19, which was visible in the sustained decline in the number of active cases, continuously for about 5 months.
While looking after the fresh surge in COVID-19 cases, which have been witnessed in some parts of the country, the guidelines mandate the State/ UT Governments to strictly enforce the Test-Track-Treat protocol in all parts of the country; ensure observance of COVID appropriate behaviour by everyone; and, to scale up the vaccination drive, to cover all the target groups. It is also emphasized that in order to ensure that the resumption of activities is successful and to fully overcome the pandemic, there is a need to strictly follow the prescribed containment strategy, and strictly observe the guidelines/ SOPs issued by MHA and Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MOHFW) and other Ministries/ Departments of the Central Government and State/ UT Governments. Further, as per the protocol, their contacts have to be traced at the earliest and similarly isolated/ quarantined.
Moreover, based on the positive cases and tracking of their contacts, Containment Zones shall be carefully demarcated by the district authorities, at the micro level, taking into consideration the guidelines prescribed by the MoHFWin this regard.
