Coronavirus: Centre lays down standard operating procedure for control rooms

New Delhi: As the number of coronavirus cases surged to 650, the Centre has laid down the standard operating procedure (SOP) for state and district control rooms, and said every control room will comprise seven teams for surveillance, call centre, media scanning, sample collection, private hospital surveillance, ambulance management and inter-department coordination.

“The creation of control room will ensure a single incident command structure for coordination of all activities related to Covid- 19 containment and efficient use of resources,” the SOP said. “The control room should be headed by state health department officials. The control room in-charge will supervise activities related to surveillance, call centre, media scanning, sample collection and inter-sectoral coordination.”

According to officials, surveillance will be mounted at three levels — hospital, field and labs testing coronavirus samples. For hospital surveillance, the control rooms need to observe the condition of the symptomatic patients admitted at isolation wards. In field surveillance, patients discharged from hospitals will be monitored by field workers in their corresponding areas. Asymptomatic travellers and contacts in home isolation will also be monitored for 14 days by field workers.


The lab surveillance will require analysis of sample and forms before they are sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune, officials said. All state control rooms on Covid have been directed to hold a daily meeting at 6 pm to assess the day’s situation and prepare a report that will be monitored at the highest level in the state administration. The call centre and helpline should be operational 24x7, the SOP said.

Another team at the control room is required to compile “data regarding the general public visiting private hospitals from all districts and identify any missed out contacts of patients reaching the facilities”. As the number of those visiting private hospitals has come down drastically due to the lockdown, officials said profiling the visitors or those availing treatment at hospitals is easier.