Vegetable vendors, security guards, pharmacists: ICMR expands definition of 'frontline workers' who need testing

A revised list drawn up by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has included police personnel at checkpoints, vegetable vendors, pharmacists, bus drivers, building security guards and airport staff as "frontline workers" who need to be tested if they show flu-like symptoms.

According to a report by The Indian Express, this ICMR document shows the extent to which the testing strategy in India will change, and the expansion of the definition of a "frontline worker".

The report states that this is including the paramedics and the healthcare workers, who were eligible to get tested right from the start of the outbreak in India.

"Security staff at buildings both private and Govt, Police personnel manning checkpoints/ roads (In certain industrial areas/ business establishments), airport staff, Air India team involved in the evacuation, migrant labourers returning to States, bus driver and associated staff, Certain category of shops like – pharmacist, vegetable vendors, banks, etc" are now classified as "frontline workers" who need to get tested if they have symptoms.

This list, sources told the newspaper, has also been drawn up keeping in mind the emerging hotspots.

"We have to gradually move to testing ‘frontline’ workers as per the expanded definition. This is the way forward. This document has been drawn up also with special focus on the eastern region where testing facilities are limited and authorities are still getting used to the containment and contact tracing drill," a source said.

According to the newspaper, the ICMR is also partly looking at expansion of the testing capacity to 2 lakh a day with this expansion in definition.