Goggles used by staff on COVID19 duty can be reused after disinfection, the ministry of health has said in an advisory
Government of India has issued instructions for the reuse of goggles – which are part of the personal protective equipments that health workers working with Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID19) patients wear. Each pair of goggles should be re-used at least five times or till they become foggy.
“Goggles may be issued to each health care worker, who will decontaminate them after every use. Goggles to be disinfected by users and re-used at least five times each, whereby one pair of goggles will suflice for 6 days. They may use them rationally till their transparency decreases or they get damaged. The ratio of issue of goggles to coverall is recommended at 1:6,” reads an advisory issued by the health ministry on Wednesday.
930 dedicated COVID hospitals with 1,58,747 Isolation beds, 20,355 ICU beds and 69,076 Oxygen supported beds are available
Goggies are crucial components of Personal Protective Equipment (ppE) Kits. After use of PPE Kit ail its components are discarded, as bio-medical waste. However, goggles conforrming to prescribed EN/BIS specifications can be reused after proper disinfection, the ministry said.
The total number of cases in the country meanwhile touched 1,51,767 with 6387 cases being reported in the last 24 hours. Health infrastructure required for COVID-19 management was ramped up during the lockdown. As of 27 th May 2020, 930 dedicated COVID hospitals with 1,58,747 Isolation beds, 20,355 ICU beds and 69,076 Oxygen supported beds are available. 2,362 dedicated COVID Health Centres with 1,32,593 Isolation beds; 10,903 ICU beds and 45,562 Oxygen supported beds have been operationalised. 10,341 quarantine centres and 7,195 COVID Care Centres with 6,52,830 beds are now available to combat COVID-19 in the country. The Centre has also provided 113.58 lakh N95 masks and 89.84 lakh Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) to the States/ UTs / Central Institutions. The testing capacity has increased in the country through 435 Government laboratories and 189 private laboratories (total of 624 labs). Cumulatively, 32,42,160 samples have been tested so far for COVID-19, whereas, 1,16,041 samples were tested yesterday.
