Punjab: Rapid testing for Covid-19 starts from Mohali, Jalandhar

Sanjeev Verma | TNN | Apr 14, 2020, 18:05 IST

Representative image.

CHANDIGARH: Punjab government has started the rapid testing facility in the state for the first time from Mohali and Jalandhar on Tuesday with an aim of covering all 17 hotspots in the state in a phased manner.
Punjab's health and family welfare minister Balbir Singh Sidhu started rapid testing from sub-divisional hospital at Dera Bassi which covers one of the hotspots – Jawaharpur village. This village has till date recorded 56 positive cases of Covid-19, including two deaths.
Additional chief secretary Vini Mahajan said the state government had received 1,000 Rapid Testing Kits for Covid-19 testing on Monday from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). Mohali and Jalandhar have been given 500 kits each to start the testing process from Tuesday. She added that the facility is likely to be extended to other districts, according to the situation of suspected cases and availability of rapid testing kits.
The state health department would initially carry out testing for all patients attending flu corners of government health facilities who have symptoms for more than seven days. Using Rapid Testing Kit, the test is simply done with a single prick to take a blood sample and the result is available in 15 minutes.
The government has also directed all the 22 districts to submit daily reports of the tests conducted along with the results. The health department has also created a portal - www.covid-19punjab.in - for gathering real-time information on testing and recording patient's profile.
Punjab government has ordered 10 lakh Rapid Testing Kits from the ICMR besides raising inquiries for another 10,000 such kits in the open market. In the next few days, the Punjab health department would try to expand testing as testing is the key to controlling the spread of the corona virus pandemic.
17 Hotspots in Punjab
The 17 identified hotspots with more number of Covid-19 cases include Mohali district’s Jawaharpur village in Dera Bassi, Phase 3-A, Phase 5, Phase 9, Sector 69 and 91. Nawahshahr district’s Pathlawa and Sujjon villages. Nijatam Nagar locality and Virk Patts village in Jalandhar, Moranwali village in Hoshiarpur, Diamond Estate Colony and Udham Singh Nagar in Amritsar, Sujanpur in Pathankot, Amarpura in Ludhiana, Budhlada in Mansa and Chatwalli in Ropar district.