Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, Devendra Fadnavis demanded that the Uddhav Thackeray-led government in the state should direct BMC to follow the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines in order to test people for the coronavirus or COVID-19.
“BMC issued a directive that there is no need to test the asymptomatic high-risk contacts. However, they need to be quarantined. The Asymptomatic direct and high-risk contacts of a confirmed case should be tested once between days five and 14 of coming in his/her contact,” Devendra Fadnavis wrote in his letter to the Maharashtra CM.
In his letter, Fadnavis has demanded the Maharashtra government to direct BMC to follow the ICMR guidelines which are to test all asymptomatic high-risk contacts including family members. The duration is between the fifth and 14th day of suspected exposure to the infection.
The BMC, however, will test asymptomatic direct and high-risk contacts patients after careful observation between days five and 14 and they will need to be quarantined for 14 days. The civic body will also decide that high-risk contacts may be tested on 5th day but only after careful observation.
The civic body has also decided that a suspected coronavirus death will be subjected to audit before confirmed as one. The asymptomatic high-risk people are the close contacts of the positive COVID-19 cases.
Maharashtra Public Health Minister Rajesh Tope earlier informed that the rate of doubling of the coronavirus or COVID-19 has been slowing down in the state. The minister said that the doubling rate for coronavirus cases has slowed down to nearly six days from two days.
Maharashtra has become the worst-hit and first state to cross the 3,000-mark with 3,320 COVID-19 cases and the death toll has risen up to 201. Of the 3,320 cases of the coronavirus in Maharashtra, over 2,000 cases have been reported in Mumbai.
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