Moumita Bhattacharjee 
The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) has emphasised on the need to contain the spread of COVID-19 through contact with infectious waste.
UNIDO India Representative Rene Van Berkel explained it can be made possible through tried and tested biomedical waste management practices and techniques. UNIDO has been working to develop and implement environmentally sound practices and techniques for medical waste with 160 plus hospitals across the states of Karnataka, Punjab, Odisha, Maharashtra and Gujarat, reports IANS.
According to Mr Berkel, project interventions have led to almost zero COVID-19 infections in waste management workers in hospitals that are working with UNIDO. A lot of practices were put in place to achieve this, including proper segregation and sealing of wastes which were backed by instructional videos, training, development and biomedical waste rules tailor-made for COVID-19 waste generation.
Improper handling of infected waste during the pandemic has caused several cases of infection and death in municipal sanitary workers and there have been repeated calls for better COVID waste management across the country.
Picture Credit: Photo by Robin Benzrihem on Unsplash.com
