States Asked To Increase Testing To Track COVID Spread
States Asked To Increase Testing To Track COVID Spread
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Bhubaneswar: To adequately track the spread of the pandemic, the Centre has urged the states to improve COVID testing.
In the letter, Additional Secretary in the Union Health Ministry Arti Ahuja stated, "It is clear from the data accessible on the ICMR site that testing has fallen in several states and union territories."
She recommended governments and UTs to pay rapid attention to this issue and enhance testing in a systematic manner, taking into account the trend of case positive in certain locations.
She emphasised early diagnosis of patients for fast isolation and care, citing all testing guidelines given by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), including the most recent on January 10. "Testing remains a key strategy for pandemic management because it aids in the identification of new clusters and hotspots of infection," she wrote. "This can, in turn, facilitate immediate containment actions like setting up containment zones, contact tracing, quarantining, isolation, and follow-up."
She claims that this will help state and district governments to control the spread of infection, as well as reduce mortality and morbidity.
Odisha had analysed 81,065 samples when the daily caseload surpassed 1000 for the first time during COVID's third wave on January 12. Since then, testing has decreased, with 75,731 tests on January 13, 74,936 tests on January 14, 77,120 tests on January 15, 70,117 tests on January 16, and 70,990 tests on January 17.
On January 11, the state examined 74,611 samples and 69,018 on January 10, finding 8778 and 7071 persons affected, respectively. On January 9, a total of 71,432 samples were analysed after 3,679 new cases were reported.
Odisha has been testing a little over 70,000 samples, with little growth in the amount despite a sharp spike in the number of cases.
