Guards, vegetable vendors in ICMR list of frontline workers who need testing

Police personnel at check points, building security guards, airport staff, bus drivers and staff, vegetable vendors and pharmacists have been identified by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) as “frontline workers” who need to be tested for Covid-19 if they show flu-like symptoms. This is in addition to healthcare workers, paramedics and returning migrants.

As per the revision of testing strategy on May 18, “all symptomatic (ILI symptoms) health care workers /frontline workers involved in containment and mitigation of COVID19” need to be tested for the Novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV2). ILI or influenza-like symptoms are the symptoms associated with flu such as fever, sore throat, body ache.Symptomatic healthcare workers were eligible for testing from the very start, but inclusion of other frontline workers was the big takeaway of the last testing strategy revision. However, a document drawn up by the ICMR on the general way forward on testing shows how widespread that definition is set to become.