E-Paper
Authorities, experts call for mass testing in Pune as mortality rate nears 12%
This puts the mortality rate for Pune district at close to 12 per cent, while Mumbai, with a population of 1.84 crore, has 876 positive cases and 54 deaths, and a mortality rate of 6.16 per cent.
With a population of 94 lakh Pune district has tested 2,914 samples since the outbreak of Covid-19, till April 9.
Of these, 209 cases have been positive, 25 of whom have died.
This puts the mortality rate for Pune district at close to 12 per cent, while Mumbai, with a population of 1.84 crore, has 876 positive cases and 54 deaths, and a mortality rate of 6.16 per cent.
Experts say that now is the time for Pune to test every symptomatic patient as the infection is no more restricted to close contacts of positive patients, or those with a travel history.
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and other district authorities are still continuing with the protocol to only test those who show symptoms from high-risk areas, which include the recently earmarked containment areas.
Pune is the second hotspot in the state after Mumbai.
A senior doctor from a well-known chain of hospitals, requesting anonymity, said, “Of course the number of cases in the city will be low. The city administration tests only if a person shows symptoms and is from a high-risk area. At this stage anyone is likely to be infected.”
Dr Abhijit More, public health expert, said, “At this stage the infection is not just restricted to travel history, or close contact with a positive patient. Many positive cases are coming forward wherein the patient does not know how s/he caught the infection. Every symptomatic patient, with a cold, cough, fever or difficulty in breathing, must be tested. Those going for door-to-door surveys must be given the immunoglobulin-M kits, which is easy to test, cheap and the sample collection needs minimum training. This can be followed by the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) which requires a lot of training for swab collection, packaging and transporting to the labs. It is time Pune does mass testing”
Currently, the PMC has sent out teams for door-to- door surveys of people with flu-like symptoms and those in the high-risk groups, with diabetes and high blood pressure. Those found with symptoms are then sent to the nearest PMC clinic or referred to Naidu hospital or Sassoon hospital, depending on the seriousness of the symptoms.
Pune district collector Naval Kishor Ram agreed that mass testing needs to be started. He said, “Currently we are testing about 30-40 samples everyday which is why we are seeing such a rise in the number of cases in recent days, but I am strongly in favour of mass testing. About 300-400 samples should be tested everyday if we want to contain the spread.”
