New Delhi, March 21: The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), which has been given the responsibility to contain the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), on Saturday revised its testing policy. Under the new testing strategy, a person with a severe acute respiratory illness such as fever, cough and shortness of breath should now be tested for coronavirus infections. The ICMR maintained community transmission has not been reported so far. Coronavirus Outbreak Live News Updates.

Under the revised testing policy, ICMR said all symptomatic health care workers and all symptomatic contacts of those whose laboratory tests have been positive have to get tested. Till now, all asymptomatic individuals who travelled to a foreign country recently and developed symptoms, all symptomatic contacts of laboratory-confirmed cases and all symptomatic healthcare workers were being tested. Coronavirus Outbreak in India: Prepare Isolation Facilities, Don't Decline Admission to Any Patient, Government Tells Hospitals as COVID-19 Cases Rise.

Who Have to Get Tested For COVID-19? ICMR Testing Policy

  • All asymptomatic individuals who have undertaken international travel in the last 14 days.

  • They should stay in home quarantine for 14 days. They should be tested only if they become symptomatic (fever, cough, difficulty in breathing). All family members living with a confirmed case should be home quarantined.

  • All symptomatic contacts of laboratory-confirmed cases.

  • All symptomatic health care workers.

  • All hospitalized patients with Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (fever AND cough and/or shortness of breath).

  • Asymptomatic direct and high-risk contacts of a confirmed case should be tested once between day 5 and day 14 of coming in his/her contact.

The new strategy aims to contain the spread of infection more effectively and to provide a reliable diagnosis to all individuals meeting the inclusion criteria of COVID-19 testing. India has reported 271 confirmed cases of coronavirus so far. "A total of 271 individuals have been confirmed positive among suspected cases and contacts of known positive cases,” ICMR said on Saturday. Currently, India has witnessed cases of coronavirus mostly related to travel and local transmission from imported cases to their immediate contacts, the agency observed.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 21, 2020 01:55 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).