Novel Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Plan- fbg-2

• All health facilities visited by the patient since onset of illness and all health workers who
attended to the patient (alive/dead) without appropriate infection prevention and control
procedures.
• During the home visit, the contact tracing/follow-up teams should ask about persons who
might have been exposed to the patient (alive/dead) but were not identified and listed as
contacts through the above process.
The Surveillance Unit will systematically identify potential contacts following the completion of the
case investigation form for all suspected, probable and confirmed COVID-19 cases. This identification
process includes investigation into activities of the case and the activities and roles of persons
associated with the case since the onset of illness/symptoms. Home visitation is a required
component for contacts of confirmed cases of COVID-19.
Contacts should be classified as to their exposure and prioritized for high risk categories of contact.
This process should be verified and double-checked for consistency and completeness during the
home visit.
As part of contact tracing, the following information for each contact is to be collected:
• Name
• Address
• Relationship with the patient
• Date of last exposure to COVID-19
• Type of contact
2. Contact Listing
All persons considered to have had a significant exposure will be listed on the contact listing form
provided (see annex). The Surveillance Unit, along with local/public healthcare providers, will make
every effort to physically identify every listed contact, inform them of their contact status, the actions
that will follow and educate contacts on the importance of calling the Surveillance Unit at the first
sign of any of the symptoms of COVID-19.
3. Contact Follow-up
Contact tracing will consist of daily review of signs or symptoms of COVID-19 for each contact
gathered through daily visits or through live or remote means. For household visits of asymptomatic
contacts, the use of PPE by healthcare personnel performing the visit is not required.
The daily monitoring of contacts may be made through in-person visits or virtually if the system used
allows visualization of the individual (e.g. video chat). The contact should be instructed to telephone
the Surveillance Unit in the Ministry of Health immediately if symptoms occur at: Tel: 502-4790 or
502-4776, Monday through Friday during normal working hours OR Tel: 376-3533 or 376-4705
after normal working hours. Contact is only complete when you have spoken to the responsible
person in the Surveillance Unit.
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