Fresh Covid-19 guidelines: Only arrested people with symptoms will be tested before being sent to jail

Only the arrested people with Covid-19 symptoms will be tested for the disease before being sent to jail, say the fresh guidelines issued by the Punjab health and

Only the arrested people with Covid-19 symptoms will be tested for the disease before being sent to jail, say the fresh guidelines issued by the Punjab health and family welfare department.

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Earlier, all those arrested were being tested for the coronavirus.

In a letter to the civil surgeons and deputy commissioners, the health department says Covid-19 testing of the symptomatic accused will be done at a designated healthcare facility. But the police department will arrange for isolation of those symptomatic till test results arrive, it says.

A copy of the letter was also marked to the state home department and the director general of police.

Sawaranjit Singh, a leader of the Paramedical and Health Employees Front, Punjab, said, “The government should arrange for tests of all arrested people. If asymptomatic patients are sent to jails, they will expose the inmates, especially the elderly besides the jail staff. The government should not escape from its responsibility.”