New COVID-19 Guidelines and Available Resources in India

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Indian government has set many guidelines to safeguard its people. The non-profit organisations also played a magnificent role in guiding people and making them aware of the deadliest virus transmission. From lockdown to massive vaccination drive across the nation, the transmission of the virus was kept in control, eventually reducing the death rate. The country has taken intense decisions and strong steps to ensure safety with new COVID guidelines.

A Brief Overview of COVID Report of India

The all-time COVID cases and deaths In India are 4.47Cr and 5.31L, respectively. India's first case was reported in Kerala, India, on January 27, 2020, in General Hospital. Since the first COVID case, many guidelines have been announced to stop the virus from spreading. Strict nationwide lockdowns, shutdowns in red zones, awareness among people, mandatory mask usage etc., were mentioned in the guidelines.

Further, the guidelines were altered based on the COVID waves with phase-wise lockdowns. Finally, people started to get back into normal activities. Even if the graph shows a good decline, there are still daily COVID cases in the country. Also, the fear of the next COVID wave is not so far. Hence, the government has developed new COVID guidelines to prepare for the upcoming days.

What's New About The Present COVID Guidelines

The recent 2022 COVID new guidelines of India are majorly focused on children and adolescents. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has revised the complete guideline to enhance safety for those below 18 years. The experts further reviewed it, where the primary focus was on the Omicron variant. The reports initially stated that the new variant is less severe than the previous ones. 

However, the government needed to have careful supervision. This is because the vaccination of Children under 18 was not started initially. Therefore, the guidelines were taken to reduce the huge risk of infection for children and adolescents. There was a dynamic step taken with necessary updates and new evidence.

Below are the enhancements of the guidelines taken and their importance.

• The title was altered to Comprehensive Guidelines for Management of COVID-19 in Children and Adolescents (below 18 years). This is because the guidelines were designed to mainly focus on them.
• It was strictly recommended that children under 18 years are not advised to use monoclonal antibodies and anti-virals irrespective of the infection's severity.
• The MIS-C diagnosis, which is a lab test, was advised to follow caution while interpreting or noticing an increase in COVID antibodies.
• The CRP level for MIS-C diagnosis was revised as >5 mg/dL.
• When steroid treatment is given, it must taper over 10-14 days with clinical improvement.
• In the COVID new guidelines, the usage of anticoagulants was also revised.
• The aftercare or post-COVID treatment was also added to the guidelines.

COVID-19 Available Resources In India

Viable COVID resources in India were provided to different communities, frontline workers, people of every age group and everywhere across the country. The essential resources were offered for home care treatment, healthcare workers and hospitals. Even other countries came forward to support India in the pandemic battle to win over the deadly virus. Let's discuss the available COVID resources.

With the onset of each wave of COVID-19 in India, the resources were improved. The aim of the resources offered was to control suffering and try to save lives and livelihoods.

• Co-Win Dashboard Support 

The web portal of Co-WIN Dashboard gives complete statistics on vaccination in India. It supports overcoming the pandemic effectively. You will get information on different sites participating in the vaccination drive. It also includes the total registrations, information on vaccination centres, types of vaccine availability and other essential information.

• Massive Vaccination Drive (From Frontline Workers, Senior Citizens To Children) 

Free vaccination drive was organised in most regions of the country. The frontline warriors and senior citizens were vaccinated initially. Later, the adult and children vaccination started gradually. Still today, 2,19,97,09,049 total vaccine doses were successfully given. Therefore, it was beneficial to COVID resources in India.

• COVID-19 Tests, Diagnosis and Treatment Aids 

The government has made COVID tests mandatory for migrants and people who visited India from other countries. In government hospitals and centers, COVID tests and treatment were free. Quarantine facilities are also provided to the patients. For the people who preferred home care treatments, COVID treatment kits were provided.

With the new guidelines and resources, the disease's transmission curve was flattened, and in the upcoming days, the country is ready to overcome all challenges thrown by this virus.