COVID-19 Prevention Protocol for an Organised Mass Gathering-An Essential Requisite in Pandemic and Post-pandemic Phase
Correspondence Address :
Prasan Kumar Panda,
Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences
(AIIMS), Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India.
E-mail: motherprasanna@rediffmail.com
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has stirred up chaos in the whole world. After prolonged lockdowns, finally, society is opening again for business and day-to-day life. Mass gatherings are undoubtedly again expected to start, but carry additional risks for transmission of the virus. We designed a concept model that was validated in about 1000 people gathering in a convocation ceremony at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak. A protocol was made, a risk assessment was done, and attendees followed-up. The emphasis on thermal screening, hand hygiene, physical distancing, open-air ventilation, refusing attendees having Influenza-Like Illnesses (ILI), and other preventive measures were the means to contain the potential transmission in an organised mass gathering of this magnitude. The dictum "prevention is better than cure" held amidst this outbreak. As a result of this well-structured mass gathering, the event was quite successfully conducted. Further event planning in the COVID-19 scenario or other outbreaks of similar infections must be managed in this way for the prevention of spread.
Convocation, Coronavirus disease 2019, Hand hygiene, Questionnaire, Thermal screening
10.7860/JCDR/2021/47856.14713
Date of Submission: Nov 20, 2020
Date of Peer Review: Dec 31, 2020
Date of Acceptance: Jan 30, 2021
Date of Publishing: Apr 01, 2021
AUTHOR DECLARATION:
• Financial or Other Competing Interests: None
• Was Ethics Committee Approval obtained for this study? NA
• Was informed consent obtained from the subjects involved in the study? Yes
• For any images presented appropriate consent has been obtained from the subjects. NA
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• Plagiarism X-checker: Nov 24, 2020
• Manual Googling: Jan 18, 2021
• iThenticate Software: Feb 08, 2021 (8%)
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