Coronavirus lockdown 4.0: Close office even if there's one case, says new guidelines

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday issued fresh guidelines for companies to take preventive measures as they resume work on a larger scale. The new guidelines suggest the entire office premises need to be sealed if one coronavirus case is reported. The office concerned can resume work once it's disinfected as per standard protocol.

In case there's a larger outbreak, the entire building will have to be closed for 48 hours. All staff will have to work from home till the building is adequately disinfected and is declared fit for re-occupation. If there are large numbers of contacts from a pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic case, there could be a possibility of a cluster emerging in a workplace setting, the guidelines suggest, adding that it could even be larger cluster due to the close environment in workplace settings.

The essential norms regarding risk assessment, isolation and quarantine of contacts, case referral and management will remain the same. However, the scale of arrangements will be higher, the guidelines reveal.

Also Read: Lockdown 4.0: Coronavirus cases cross 1 lakh mark in India, death tally 3,163 

Any staff suffering from flu-like illnesses should not attend office and seek medical advice from local health authorities. When one or more people who share a room or close office space are found to be suffering from symptoms suggestive of coronavirus, the ill person should be placed in a room or area where they are isolated from others at the workplace and should be provided with a mask or face cover till medical examination.

If a suspected case reports very mild or mild symptoms on an assessment by the health authorities, the person must be placed in home isolation, says health ministry guidelines suggest.

Meanwhile, the COVID-19 cases crossed 1 lakh mark with a single-day jump of 4,970 cases and 134 deaths on Tuesday. Total cases now stand at 1,01,139 and death toll has reached 3,163, says the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. While as many as 58,802 patients are still undergoing treatment, 39,173 have also recovered. Among the states, Maharashtra tops the tally with 35,058 cases, followed by 11,760 in Tamil Nadu, 11,742 in Gujarat and 10,054 in Delhi. Maharashtra has reported 1,249 deaths, Gujarat 694, Madhya Pradesh 252, and West Bengal 244. Delhi has reported 168 deaths.

Also read: Lockdown 4.0 Live Updates: Huge crowd of migrant workers gathers in Bandra; India's coronavirus cases-1,01,139