Ghaziabad exhausts rapid antigen kit stock, officials ask nearby districts for help as state raises testing target

It is for the first time since March that the Ghaziabad district faces an acute shortage of rapid antigen kits, as the entire stock was exhausted on Thursday. Officials

It is for the first time since March that the Ghaziabad district faces an acute shortage of rapid antigen kits, as the entire stock was exhausted on Thursday. Officials said they are trying to seek help from neighbouring districts as Uttar Pradesh officials have increased the daily antigen testing target of both Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar, from 2,000 per day to at least 3,500 per day.

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Sources in the district health department said that the entire stock of rapid antigen kits was exhausted by Thursday evening, and that no replenishments could be made from the warehouse at Meerut. Sources also revealed that stocks of Viral Transport Medium (VTM) vials were about 6,000 in number till Thursday evening. The vials are used for storing samples which are taken up primarily for RT-PCR tests.

“A shortage was often observed during the past several days, but new stocks used to come in. However, by the end of Thursday, the entire stock of rapid kits was exhausted and new stock is awaited. We tried to find more boxes of rapid kits, if any was available with us, but to no avail,” said a source from the district health department, asking not to be identified.

The district at present has been conducting about 4,000-4,500 tests per day, most of which are being done through rapid antigen kits, at different walk-in centres. The rapid kits give faster results for the coronavirus (Covid-19) disease and the test results are generally made available to people within half an hour.

“We are trying to get about 2,000 kits from a neighbouring district to ensure that testing is conducted on Friday. Further, we have also spoken to officials in Lucknow and they have assured that sufficient stock of kits and vials will be provided by Friday evening. During Diwali days, we expect that a lesser number of people will come for testing,” said Dr NK Gupta, chief medical officer of the district.

District magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey did not respond to calls and messages sent for his response over the issue.

At 58.15%, the share of rapid antigen kits in the overall testing for Sars-Cov-2 in Ghaziabad is high. According to the records of the district health department, they have conducted a total of 4,77,923 tests so far till November 11, and these included 2,77,952 tests through rapid antigen kits, whose use was started from June 26 in the district.

Alok Kumar, the state’s principal-secretary (health), on Thursday sent a communication to all the districts in UP where the revised target for daily tests conducted through rapid kits was defined.

The order said that all districts combined had earlier been given a target of 92,500 daily tests and this has not been changed. However, officials said that targets have been reduced for districts having lesser number of cases, while the daily testing target has been increased for districts where daily positive case count is higher.

As a result, both Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar have been given a revised target of conducting 3,500 tests through rapid antigen kits, as against the previous daily target of 2,000 tests.