COVID-19 declared a notified disease

The State’s fourth testing facility has come up in Tirunelveli

15/03/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

The State government has declared COVID-19 a notified disease under the Tamil Nadu Public Health Act, 1939.

“The World Health Organisation has declared COVID-19 a pandemic. While the government is taking preventive measures, declaring it a notified disease under the Public Health Act means delegating more powers to health officials and taking stringent measures to control the infection. Now, if a person with symptoms of COVID-19 approaches a private practitioner/hospital, they should immediately notify the public health authorities,” said K. Senthil Raj, mission director, National Health Mission-Tamil Nadu. He added that they should notify the Deputy Director of Health Services of the respective district or the municipal health officials who, in turn, would take measures to isolate the patient and prevent further transmission. “This is important to prevent transmission in the community,” he said.

Another testing laboratory has been readied in the State - at Tirunelveli. With this, Tamil Nadu has a total of four testing facilities, the others being King Institute of Preventive Medicine, Guindy, and government medical colleges at Theni and Tiruvarur.

According to a bulletin issued by the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, seven persons were under hospital isolation and 1,601 under home quarantine in the State. Two nasal and throat swabs and blood samples were being processed.