Bihar orders 50,000 rapid testing kits to up screening of vulnerable pockets

Covid-19 positive cases have gone up to 60 until Friday morning, but the viral outbreak is restricted to 10 districts so far and mostly among patients with known foreign travel history.

Bihar has ordered 50,000 rapid antibody diagnostic kits from public sector enterprise HLL Lifecare Limited in a bid to increase the screening of more vulnerable coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pockets in the state such as Siwan, Gopalganj, Munger, Gaya, Begusarai and Patna. The Covid-19 positive cases have gone up to 60 until Friday morning, but the viral outbreak is restricted to 10 districts so far and mostly among patients with known foreign travel history.

Medics in PPE kits during a demonstration on taking samples from COVID-19 suspected patients at a drive-through test facility in New Delhi, India, on Monday, April 6, 2020. (Sanchit Khanna/HT PHOTO)

Siwan and Gopalganj are the two districts from where a large section of people work in the Persian Gulf countries and many have returned home in March because of the pandemic.

HLL Lifecare Limited, under the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW), has developed the rapid antibody diagnostic kit for Covid-19 from human serum, plasma and/or whole blood obtained from patients showing symptoms of respiratory infection. The Pune-based National Institute of Virology and the Indian Council for Medical research (ICMR) have approved the kit’s use.

Sanjay Kumar, principal secretary, department of health, Bihar, said that besides HLL, ICMR would also make its test kits available to the state.

“We’ll follow the ICMR advisory. There has been no evidence of community spread in Bihar so far. However, we’re on our guard, as some Covid-19 positive cases are being reported from Begusarai,” he added.

Alarm bells of community transmission started ringing after one person with known foreign travel history infected 16 of his family members in Siwan, and more may be at risk.

The health authorities are finding contact tracing of Covid-19 positive cases in Begusarai a bigger challenge.

“We’re trying to trace the origin of infection in Begusarai. At some places, we’ve been able to track the infection and take appropriate action such as a village has been sealed in Siwan. It’s high time that people with travel history must volunteer to undergo tests if they show sign of symptoms, else their family members would be at a higher risk,” said Kumar.

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has also extended its helping hand to the state government by providing 15,000 Covid-19 test kits that arrived a couple of days ago. On Thursday, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar thanked the foundation for its assistance.