With cases rising, Ghaziabad and GB Nagar should test more, say experts

Ghaziabad: Even though number of coronavirus (Covid-19) disease cases is on the rise, the Ghaziabad district has been missing its daily testing target by almost half

Ghaziabad: Even though number of coronavirus (Covid-19) disease cases is on the rise, the Ghaziabad district has been missing its daily testing target by almost half.

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The district presently has a target to conduct about 5400 tests per day – 3700 through rapid antigen kits and 1700 through the Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method. However, the district on an average per day, conducted an average of 2,433 tests in January, 1,971 tests in February and 2,494 tests in March, officials records reveal.

“As per the target given by state officials, we need to conduct 3700 RAT and 1700 RT-PCR tests. For the last 10-12 days, we have increased testing and are meeting the RT-PCR test target and also conducting about 2,200-2,300 tests via the rapid antigen kits. There are about 25 testing teams in operation,” said an officer from the district health department, asking not to be identified.

According to sources, some of the hired lab technicians, data entry operators and even vehicles which help ferry the testing teams were detached due to the closing of the fiscal, which ended March 31, adding that this has also affected the overall testing.

When asked about the issue, district magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey denied any shortage of resources.

“There is no shortage of any resources and we are scaling up testing to the optimum level. If there are any issues, we will get them sorted out. Other than that, we are meeting our RT-PCR test target and also focusing on rapid antigen tests,” the DM said.

According to official records of the health department, the Ghaziabad district in March saw about 565 new cases, with 90 from the Carte segment comprising localities like Shashtri Nagar, while 86 cases came from residential segments of Raj Nagar, 51 from Vaishali, 29 from Vausndhara and 63 from Karhera II, which also includes Indirapuram.

Noida says increasing testing, tracing

Meanwhile, officials of the Gautam Budh Nagar administration said they are ramping up testing and taking up tracing, testing and treatment to control the spread of the disease.

“We have increased our daily testing and at present are conducting about 3,700-4,000 tests per day. About half of these are RT-PCR tests. Our teams are ensuring we conduct daily testing of about 4,000 and if need be, we will also increase daily testing. For past two days, the fresh Covid-19 cases have been on the higher side,” said Suhas LY, district magistrate of GB Nagar.

According to the state control room figures of April 2, 73 new cases emerged in Ghaziabad and 70 in nearby Gautam Budh Nagar district. The Ghaziabad district has 355 active cases while GB Nagar has 434.

“In present times, there is a need to increase daily testing and it should be about 10,000 per day. This is needed as more cases are emerging and authorities need to contain them. Aggressive testing will trace cases which can further be isolated for prevention of spread of the disease. This should be followed by extensive contact tracing to further control spread of the Covid-19,” said Dr Ashish Agarwal, president of Indian Medical Association (Ghaziabad).