The National Center for Epidemiology, Prevention and Control of Diseases (CDC), entity of the Ministry of Health (Minsa), launched an epidemiological alert to public and private health establishments in the face of community transmission of cases of COVID-19 with the Omicron variant in the country.
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This in the midst of the current context for the New Year festivities that, according to the alert, “They result in the displacement of the population to different regions of the country, as well as participation in meetings, contributing to increase the transmission of the Omicron variant”.
According to the CDC, transmission of the virus affects the “population that attends year-end social events, in which prevention and control measures are not taken into account, such as social distancing and the use of a double mask among other risk behaviors”.
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In this sense, the Diris, Diresas, Geresas, EsSalud, Health Services of the Armed Forces and the National Police are urged, interrupt community transmission of SARS-CoV-2 variant Ómicron in Peru; through epidemiological surveillance (epidemiological fence with identification of the case contacts), prevention (vaccination) and control (screening and isolation of symptomatic and asymptomatic contacts).
Actions to develop
| * | In order to intensify and comply with the aforementioned measures, the CDC-PERU ordered a series of actions to be carried out on a mandatory basis: |
|---|---|
| Comprehensive epidemiological investigation | Before the identification of suspected or probable cases of COVID-19, carry out a thorough epidemiological investigation taking into account the history of international travel or having had contact with people with a history of recent travel to countries where the variant has been identified. |
| Virus detection | Intensify the detection and timely notification of cases by public and private health establishments. |
| Cases captured | All cases captured must be entered by public and private health establishments to the NOTI Web of CDC PERÚ. |
| Confirmed cases | Samples of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in international travelers or direct contacts must be sent to the INS for the corresponding genomic sequencing. |
| Census and monitoring | Carry out the census and follow-up of direct contacts, as well as guarantee compliance with the isolation of the cases and the quarantine of the contacts. |
| Vaccination | Continue with vaccination activities in order to close the gaps and achieve optimal coverage above 90% in the first and second doses, as well as booster vaccination with the 3rd dose, at 3 months after the application of the 2nd dose . |
| Precautionary measures | Emphasize promotional preventive measures in the population, highlighting the importance of the administration of vaccines, immunization and compliance with sanitary measures (physical distancing, use of a double mask, hand washing and ventilation of spaces), through local communication channels. |
| Hospitalized COVID-19 | In patients hospitalized in COVID-19 services or in Intensive Care Units (ICU), strengthen surveillance, prevention and control of infections associated with health care, according to Epidemiological Alert 020-2020 Risk of increased infections associated with health care (IAAS) in the context of the COVID-19 epidemic in the country. (https://www.dge.gob.pe/epipublic/uploads/alertas/alertas_202020.pdf). |
| Laboratories nationwide | The private laboratories nationwide that carry out molecular and antigenic tests must send the epidemiological files of the positive samples to the DIRIS / DIRESA / GERESA according to their jurisdictional scope and send the samples for genomic sequencing following the instructions of the INS. |
