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Covid sampling now increased to 1,300, Panchkula ahead of Chandigarh
On an average over 13,00 tests are being conducted per day with health authorities getting 20% to 30% positivity area-wise
As Covid-19 cases surge in the district, Panchkula administration has increased sampling to about 1,300 a day, which with 21 collection centres is much ahead of Chandigarh, which samples 800 on an average.
Also, from Wednesday, those undergoing rapid antigen tests (RAT) won’t be allowed to leave without their reports, which will be ready in around 30 minutes.
RAT involves testing in proximity of the patient and directly detecting presence or absence of an antigen.
“The strategy during a surge should be to conduct house-to-house surveillance to identify persons with Influenza like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infections (SARI), to conduct their tests near their homes, isolate the positive ones from others and quickly provide treatment,” said Dr Saroj Aggarwal, deputy civil surgeon, Panchkula.
From nine sample collection centres initially when Covid cases were first reported, the number was increased to 19 in the last week of August and to 21 on September 7.
“By setting up 21 sample collection centres, we have brought the facility to (residents’) areas,” Dr Aggarwal said. “Earlier, if you asked symptomatic people to visit a hospital in Panchkula, 50% would not turn up... further spreading the infection and creating longer chain. But now, a person from Nanakpur does not have to visit Panchkula to give samples.”
Adding that health officials were focused on bringing down the number of fatalities, Dr Aggarwal said the fourth round of house-to-house surveys had started. Till date, 36 deaths have been reported, of which 34 took place since August.
About 47,057 samples have also been collected for both RAT and RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction). In five months, from March till July 31, the authorities had conducted 19,370 tests.
Sampling has increased rapidly since August after the surge, with 27,687 tests conducted from August 1 till September 7.
“On an average we are conducting over 13,00 tests per day, of which over 1,000 are RAT and over 300 tests by using the traditional RT-PCR method. Area-wise, we are getting 20% to 30% positivity,” said Dr Aggarwal.
With the population of 5.61 lakh (as per 2011 Census), the sampling rate of Panchkula district is much higher than Mohali district and UT Chandigarh – both with a population of 10 lakh.
People sampled won’t leave centres
Dr Aggarwal also said ‘holding time areas’ were being created for people undergoing RAT to wait for results arriving in 15 to 30 minutes. “According to protocol, positive persons will either be sent for home isolation with kits or to the Covid care centre or hospital,” she said.
The decision was taken because people were giving wrong information while being tested, which made contacting them difficult if they tested positive. “At times it used to take us 24 to 36 hours to isolate them and by that time they created clusters,” she said.
