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Ghaziabad: Random sampling started in Covid-19 hot spots, delayed test reports a major issue
Teams from the Ghaziabad health department have started random sampling of people living in Covid-19 hot spot areas and containment zones. The Uttar Pradesh government
Teams from the Ghaziabad health department have started random sampling of people living in Covid-19 hot spot areas and containment zones. The Uttar Pradesh government on Wednesday has also directed the districts to ramp up collection of samples so that more people can be traced and shifted to quarantine centres.
In Ghaziabad, chief medical officer Dr NK Gupta said the health department has started collecting about 20 samples a day from 14 hot spot areas.
“But delay in getting test reports is a major issue. Till Wednesday, we have 547 samples which are pending as we have not received any report for the past three days. Earlier, we sent samples to Delhi but now we send them to a lab in Noida. However, we have started random sampling from containment zones and hot spot areas in order to ascertain if there any positive cases in these localities,” Gupta said.
On Wednesday night, a doctor from Indirapuram was found positive for coronavirus, officials said.
With the new positive case, the total number of hot spot areas may increase to 16 in the district, the officials said. The officials said a containment area of 1km radius is identified in case a person tests positive for Covid-19 in a particular area. In case of more than one positive case, the radius is increased to three kilometers.
In both instances, a two-kilometre buffer zone is also created, where door-to-door surveillance activities are taken up by health teams.
“To take up random sampling, our surveillance team will visit households in these areas at random and collect samples which will be sent for testing. So far, we had been collecting samples only of those with foreign travel history or those who complained of symptoms and those who attended religious congregations,” the CMO said.
Amit Mohan Prasad, UP’s principal secretary (health), Wednesday said from the initial sample collection of about 150-200 daily, the state is now collecting more than 2,000 samples daily for the past two days.
“On Tuesday, we collected 2433 samples. We have also given instructions to districts having no Covid-19 positive cases to send a minimum of 20 samples a day while districts having hot spots or having more than 50 cases should send at least 150-200 samples a day. The sampling and testing have been ramped up so that we discover the spread at the earliest and those found positive can be treated,” Gupta said.
He said as per the latest age profile, the state had 17% cases in the age group 0-20 years; 46.5% in the age group of 21-40 years; 26% in the age group of 41-60 years; and 10.5% cases in the age group of above 60 years.
Across the state, the total count of Covid-19 cases has risen to 727 (till Wednesday evening) with 55 patients discharged from hospitals and 11 dead. In Ghaziabad, the total number of Covid-19 cases is 28 while seven were discharged from hospitals.
The CMO said that a 37-year-old doctor, an oncologist with a private hospital in Vaishali, from a pocket in Indirapuram was found positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday and he got himself admitted to a hospital in Delhi.
“Seven of his family members have been quarantined. We are trying to trace his other contacts and these may also include patients who visited him. The pocket in Indirapuram where he resides will be turned into a hotspot. The location of Vaishali hospital may also be turned into hot spot. If the two new hotspots are created, Ghaziabad will have a tally of 16 hot spots,” CMO Dr Gupta added.
Prasad said the first set of ‘pool sampling’ was initiated in Agra district Wednesday. Under the pool sampling, individual samples are mixed and tested as one. In case the test is negative, all individual are termed negative. In case the pool tests positive, all individuals will be tested again. Doctors said pool sampling will save on resources and time.
“Five samples were pooled and sent for testing in Agra. This concept will be used across the state as well. We have also decided that the audit of all Covid-19 deaths will be taken up and detailed reports of all deceased will be studied by a panel of doctors. This will help us gather insight on each case and the analysis will be helpful in treating Covid-19 patients,” Prasad said.
The officials also said students in their final year of MBBS and nursing courses will also be given an opportunity to join the health department’s efforts to fight the coronavirus spread.
