Emerging issues and preventive measures for health care workers in the diagnostic field in coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic

Kaur, A.; Sinha, M.; Das, A.; Gulati, N.; Mehndiratta, M.; Shekhar, C.

Coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome-CoV-2 is an emerging infectious disease first identified in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, which subsequently spread as a global pandemic posing a global threat. As per World Health Organisation worldwide around 38 lac people have been infected and 2.6 lac people have died from the disease and in India 59,662 people are infected with 1981 deaths by May 9, 2020. It is feasible that potentially infectious specimens may be submitted in our laboratory those are the impending source of infection to the laboratory personnel. Using imaging equipment on coronavirus confirmed/suspected patient/carriers is a serious hazard for healthcare providers because there is a risk that the virus could remain on the surface of the computed tomography scan machines or ultrasound (US) probes/patient bed/couch. Here, we have enlisted the rigorous biosafety measures which if executed appropriately can significantly drop the chances of spread of infection to health care workers in these diagnostic sections.