Ghaziabad faces hiccups to conduct 6,000 tests per day

Ghaziabad: The district that had planned to conduct 6,000 tests per day in October is now lagging behind in terms of achieving the daily target. According to the

Ghaziabad: The district that had planned to conduct 6,000 tests per day in October is now lagging behind in terms of achieving the daily target. According to the district health department data, Ghaziabad conducted only 47,777 tests in first 10 days of the month with an average of 4,777 tests a day.

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The officials in the health department said that they are facing shortage of rapid antigen kits. As per the official data, the number of Covid-19 tests conducted using rapid kits in the district was 4,363 on October 6, which fell to 1,544 on October 10.

The directions for conducting 6,000 daily tests were given to the district officials by the UP government-appointed nodal officer, Senthil Pandian C, when he took a review meeting in the last week of September. Following the directions, the health department roped in more lab technicians to complete the daily target and conducted more than 6,000 tests only on two days of this month -- October 1 (6,014) and October 5 (6,042).

The 6,042 tests conducted on October 5 have so far remained the highest in a single day since March when the first Covid-19 case was reported in the district.

“For conducting 6,000 tests, we have to conduct 4,200 tests with rapid antigen kits and another 1,800 through the RT-PCR method. For the past few days, there have been issues in procuring the antigen kits. Antigen kits are coming in as per the earlier target of 3,100 tests a day, which include 2,000 through rapid kits. However, we are trying to procure more antigen kits,” said an officer from the health department who wished not to be named.

“As per directions, we are conducting one-third of our daily tests through the RT-PCR method,” the officer said.

Meanwhile, the overall testing has picked up in the district. During the period from September 1-10, the total testing stood at 33,599 while it increased to 38,982 in the next 10 days from September 11 to 20. It further increased to 44,261 from September 21 to 30 and went up to 47,777 during the period of October 1-10.

Overall, the district has conducted about 362,212 tests till October 10 and the figure includes 217,384 tests conducted with the help of rapid antigen kits. This provides district with a test positivity rate of 4.46%.

The district administration officials said that they will look into the shortage of rapid antigen kits and ensure that the daily target of 6,000 is met. “Our testing has increased over a period of time as we are doing focussed testing in areas where we expect more suspected cases. But we have instances of about 10 lab technicians who are either suffering health issues or have contracted Covid-19. So, there are some hiccups which we will resolve soon. Overall, the testing is increasing and we will increase it further,” said Ajay Shankar Pandey, district magistrate.

Of the total 47,777 tests conducted from October 1 to 10, about 31,585 were conducted through the use of rapid kits while 16,192, about 33.89% which is about one-third of the total tests, were done through the RT-PCR method.

The officials said that since the area of containment zones has also been shortened on the basis of revised guidelines, they will also be focussing on 100% testing in containment zones.

In its advisory on Covid-19 testing in the country, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on September 4 suggested that 100% people living in containment zones should get tested by rapid antigen test particularly in cities where there has been a widespread transmission of infection.