COVID-19: Kanpur Administration To Track People Buying Paracetamol To Find Coronavirus Suspects

The Kanpur administration has directed all medical stores to maintain data of those buying paracetamol or other medicines for cough, cold, and fever or breathing problems.

All medical stores have been ordered to note down the name, address and contact number of those buying paracetamol or other medicines for cough, cold and fever or breathing problems, and provide it to officials of food and drug authority.

As per the directive, if anyone suffering from fever or cough and cold purchases paracetamol tablets, the administration will start tracking them as they could be a suspected case of COVID-19. Directives have been issued by the divisional commissioner Dr Sudhir M. Bobde.

With the help of the health department, the administration will track the buyers. If anyone is suspected to have coronavirus, they will be tested and quarantined at their home.

"The data of buyers maintained at the medical stores would be shared with the chief medical officer (CMO) and then all such people would be tested for coronavirus infection and quarantined for 14 days," said a health department official told Hindustan Times.

Along with medical stores, doctors have also been asked to prepare a record of patients showing symptoms of coronavirus and share the details with the health department.

The rules are applicable in all six districts in the Kanpur division.

As of Tuesday, April 14, Uttar Pradesh has reported 558 COVID-19 cases, of which 49 have recovered and five have died. Kanpur at present has nine confirmed cases of the virus