Infection prevention and control: Key measures in healthcare settings to reduce the spread of COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) poses an enormous burden on society, economic and healthcare systems worldwide. The various measures being taken to control its spread. It has no definitive treatment and vaccination till date. Therefore, Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) practice in the healthcare facilities is the most important and essential to combat this health crisis. The increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases among healthcare professionals along with evidence of ongoing transmission in some healthcare settings suggest the gaps in the implementation of IPC practice. This need reviewing of all guidelines and their appropriate implementation. Strategic preparedness of preventive measures within health-care facilities; their proper implementation; the continuous, correct & consistent performance of IPC measures and use of tools to identify IPC gaps & to monitor progress are the key features to achieve success in reducing the transmission of SARS-CoV2 virus.

Keywords

• infection prevention and control (ipc)
• covid-19
• sars-cov-2
• pandemic
• hand hygiene
• cleaning and disinfection