Antigen testing camps increased in key areas

Despite an ongoing slowdown in the number of daily Covid-19 cases emerging from the district, the health department has decided to increase the number of antigen

Despite an ongoing slowdown in the number of daily Covid-19 cases emerging from the district, the health department has decided to increase the number of antigen testing camps in key areas, as a pre-emptive move to stay ahead of the spread of SARS-Cov-2. From 98 testing camps organised in the nine days leading to December 22, a total of 128 camps will be held in the subsequent nine days until December 31, according to data shared by the health department.

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Moreover, antigen tests will now be deployed across 31 healthcare blocks, as opposed to just 27 earlier. The new locations include Ghangola, Bhora Kalan, Kasan and Rajendra Park, where antigen camps were earlier put on hold in view of the decreasing positivity rate in these areas.

The majority of upcoming antigen camps, meanwhile, have been organised in areas like Haily Mandi, Badshahpur, Mullahera and Sohna, from where a high number of Covid-19 infections are usually reported, due to dense population in these areas.

While officials did not specify whether a higher positivity has been observed in these regions of late, Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer, Gururgam, said, “We decide the locations of antigen camps based on weekly analysis of testing data from PHCs and UPHCs. The reason we have increased the camps in certain places is to stay ahead of the spread of the illness. In our experience, it is not a good strategy to relax testing even if the growth rate is decreasing. If antigen positivity in a particular region shows an uptick, it will allow us to plan accordingly to prevent another surge of cases in that area.”

A medical officer with the health department, requesting anonymity, said that this step is presently intended to serve as a surveillance tool. “While we are not facing any surge in cases at present, antigen camps have been useful in helping us identify where clusters of infections are present. It is important to keep testing up in these regions. Take Bhangrola for example. We have not conducted any camp there in the last few days because the situation improved. But we will now return there to see if the situation has changed. These are also areas where people are reliant on public healthcare,” the officer said.

Meanwhile, officials said that they plan to continue conducting at least 4,000 RT-PCR tests in the district each day, along with about 600 antigen tests. “We were, until recently, conducting between 6,000 and 10,000 tests per day, but seeing the decline in positivity rate, 4,000 tests is now an optimum number,” said Dr Yadav.