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Punjab ramps up corona testing, but still behind national average
Principal secretary, health and family welfare, Anurag Agarwal said the state was doing testing in a very scientific manner through extensive contract tracing as 80% of the positive cases were asymptomatic
CHANDIGARH: Punjab has ramped up the Covid-19 testing, but it is still way below the national average.
The state, where the Covid-19 positive count rose to 287 on Thursday, has more than doubled the number of tests conducted to trace the coronavirus infection cases in the past two weeks amid a push for more testing. Against 108 samples tested per million of the population as on April 9, the figure stood at 266 tests per million on April 22, an increase of 147%, according to the comparative testing data of various states compiled by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the state health department.
Despite the increase, the state’s testing numbers are not just below the national average of 344 tests per million of the population, it also trails behind some state experiencing similar-scale or lower outbreaks such as Haryana, Odisha, and Uttarakhand.
Principal secretary, health and family welfare, Anurag Agarwal said the state was doing testing in a very scientific manner through extensive contract tracing as 80% of the positive cases were asymptomatic. “The situation in SBS Nagar and SAS Nagar (earlier known as Nawanshahr and Mohali, respectively) has been controlled through this strategy. We have increased testing substantially in the last one week. As testing capacity has got enhanced, more testing will be done in the coming days,” he said. Of the 7,716 samples tested so far, 3.6% have come out Covid-19 positive.
STATE AHEAD INITIALLY, THEN FELL BEHIND
Punjab was testing more samples than the national average till about 10 days ago as the number of Covid-19 tests conducted per million of the population stood at 151 against the national average of 138 on April 12. However, Punjab then fell behind as other states ramped up their testing faster subsequently. By April 22, neighbouring Haryana’s number of tests per million people climbed to 568 from 108 as on April 9 – an increase of 426%. In Odisha and Karnataka also, the number of tests per million have increased by 477% and 245%, respectively.
Besides Punjab, other major states where the count of tests for the virus per million inhabitants is lower than the national average are Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and West Bengal. With 1,543 tests per million people, Delhi has tested a higher proportion of its population than any other state as per the ICMR data.
Dr KK Talwar, former director of the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, said the state’s testing capacity was very low to start with but has been increased substantially since.
“There are five approved government and private labs in the state and the process for approval of some others is underway. Constant efforts are being made to scale it up further. Pool testing will also improve the numbers but we are limiting it only to green zones,” said the renowned expert who is advising the state government on the health sector.
44% TESTS IN ONLY 3 DISTRICTS
The three districts of Jalandhar, SAS Nagar and Ludhiana, two of these are among the hotspots with large outbreaks, accounted for 44% of the Covid-19 tests conducted until April 22. Of these, 1,364 tests have been conducted in Jalandhar where eight containment zones have been identified to curb the virus spread. Similarly, 954 samples have been tested in SAS Nagar from where 62, or say 22%, of the total 283 positive cases in the state have been reported.
