Covid vaccine: Priority to healthcare workers
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, November 27 2020: Priority will be given to healthcare workers when Covid vaccine Arrives.

The State has taken up steps to facilitate vaccination following the directives of the Ministry of Social Welfare, Government of India, said Principal Secretary (Health), Vumlunmang Vualnam on Friday.

Briefing media persons, Vumlunmang said there is also effort to put a cap on the maximum price for COVID-19 test at Government and private laboratories.

A committee will be formed and a decision will be taken soon to fix the price for Covid test, Vumlunmang said.

On vaccination, Vumlunmang said steps have been taken up to vaccinate healthcare workers at 138 Government healthcare facilities/hospitals and 108 private healthcare facilities.

Other frontline workers will also be covered by the programme.

Vumlunmang further stated that sero-surveillance will be launched from November 30 at Imphal West, Kakching, Churachandpur and Ukhrul district.

Covid hotspot and non-spot areas are being identified for the purpose.

The survey will help device strategies in the future fight against COVID-19, Vumlunmang said.

Seroprevalence studies (or serosurveys) estimate the share of the population that test positive for antibodies using serology tests.

The presence of a specific antibody in a sufficiently high concentration will suggest that the tested person was previously infected.

Typically, such studies test individuals who are selected at random using sampling techniques that will allow scaling the results to the general population.

This does not mean that everyone or even a majority of the population needs to be tested - what is needed is a randomly drawn set of individuals, provided that those who agree to participate in the test are not somehow systematically different from those who refuse.

Efforts are also on to actively engage COVID-19 Assembly Segment Committees, local committees in facing the disease.

A joint meeting of the local committees, doctors and other authorities concerned will also be held soon at Wangoi, Vumlunmang added.

Vumlunmang also informed that night curfew has been imposed in the State restricting people's movement during night-time from 6 pm to 4 pm.

This step was taken up to contain the spread of the virus and break transmission chain.

On the visit of VK Dewangan, the Central Nodal Officer for Covid and his team, he said the team visited RIMS, JNIMS and other district hospitals and healthcare facilities and took stock of the Covid situation.

All suggestions they provided will be considered and worked upon with close coordination with all authorities and stakeholders concerned to successfully contain the virus spread, he said.

Health Services Director, K Rajo said that the frontline workers, pregnant women, CMHT, BPL, AAY card holders are being provided free Covid test.

Stating efforts are on to increase manpower, he said steps are being taken up to infuse 100 doctors, 150 staff nurses and 150 multi-tasking staff.

109 COVID-19 positive persons died from November 1 till November 26.81 of mem died due to COVID-19 and the remaining died of other ailments, he said.

He also advised people to maintain physical distance and hand hygiene to avoid infection.

Additional DDG/Director General of Health Services, Government of India, Dr L Swasticharan said the State was found to have implemented many recommendations they suggested during earlier visit.

There are public health measures which needed to be followed and implemented by all.

Holding weekly media briefing is among the measures needed to successfully tackle the pandemic, Swasticharan said.

The State's efforts to contain the virus should cover every person.

To face the pandemic successfully, the authorities concerned should analyse and maintain true data.

This requires cooperation of all including the public, he added.

Responding to a query, Additional Director, State Immunization, said immunization of children hindered by the lockdown has resumed and is improving since September.

National Institute of TB and Respiratory Disease, Associate Professor Dr Ashish Rajan also attended the press briefing.

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