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After Centre’s nudge, health dept to increase testing in Maharashtra
Ahead of the festive season, the Centre has directed state governments to increase testing for Covid and monitor cases
Ahead of the festive season, the Centre has directed state governments to increase testing for Covid and monitor cases. In the list of 20 districts given by the Centre, Pune district has also reported a decline in Covid testing and higher positivity rate.
According to the letter, 20 districts from Maharashtra have reported a decline in the number of total tests conducted in the week ending August 4 as compared to the week ending July 28.
Between July 22 and 28, 28,418 tests were conducted in Pune district. And 24,623 tests were conducted between July 29 and August 4. The number of tests conducted are 0.87 times less between July 29 to August 4.
Ayush Prasad, CEO, Zilha Parishad said, “Medical stores have been asked to report purchase of symptom suppressors sold over the counter. Also, random testing units in vehicles will be deployed at places of crowding. Our challenges are people are resistant to testing. People fight with staff in case we request random testing. Since it’s no longer mandatory to get tested for travel, the negatives we found to pull down positivity rate are no longer there. People with symptoms get tested therefore positivity is high.” .
Pune district has the highest weekly positivity rate in Maharashtra with 13.28 per cent
Dr Pradeep Awate,state surveillance officer said that as per directions by the central government, adequate testing will be undertaken in all the districts. “We will also closely monitor districts reporting higher cases, positivity rates and clusters to prevent further spread of infection and effective case management. Mass gatherings are likely in the next few months due to different festivals,” said Dr Awate.
On Sunday, according to the latest report from the BJ Medical College Pune, 1 patient of BA.4 and 2 patients of BA.5 are reported, while 16 patients of BA.2.75 have been found in the state.
“All these cases are from Pune. Detailed epidemiological investigation of these cases is underway. This has taken the BA.4 and BA.5 patient tally to 275 and that of BA.2.75 to 250,” said Dr Awate.
On Sunday, Maharashtra reported 1,812 new cases and one death. The case fatality rate is at 1.83%.
Vaccination in city declines
While the Centre has directed the state government to increase vaccination, the vaccination in the city has been on the decline in the last one week.
According to the data furnished by the health department, the turnout for booster dose has been good in the past few days.
Dr Suryaakaant Deokar,immunisation officer, PMC health department said, “So far 3,878,804 first doses have been administered in PMC limits and 3,251,977 second doses. Whereas booster dose count is 4,63,472.”
Dr Sachin Desai, state immunisation officer said, “We are encouraging more beneficiaries to complete their vaccination ahead of this festive season. So far, we have carried out door-to-door vaccination under ‘Har Ghar Dastak’ campaign.”
