The number of COVID-19 swab tests will be increased by a large number daily very soon, and about 3,000 samples are collected daily to keep a check on the spread of Coronavirus, District Collector G. Veerapandian said on Monday.
Reviewing the COVID-19 situation in the district with COVID Nodal officers, Mr. Veerapandian said that so far 52,000 tests had been done, and Kurnool district stood in the first place in the State in testing samples either in RT-PCR, TrueNAT, or CLIA. The testing capacity would also be increased shortly and the spread pattern monitored closely, the Collector said.
There were sufficient number of beds available in the district with 1,000 oxygenated beds already available another 500 would be added very soon to meet any big spurt in the number of positive cases. The total number of positive cases stood at 766, while only 144 were active cases with 28 deaths. The number of containment zones also had come down to 31 from 50 at one time. Mr. Veerapandian asked the nodal officers to not take it easy as the number of positive cases being reported on a daily basis were coming down.
Eight persons were discharged from the COVID Hospitals on Monday in the district including a two-year-old boy and five-year-old girl.
Results awaited
In Anantapur, the administration has been conducting close to 300 tests a day according to a specific strategy to find out the pattern of virus spread from the migrant labourers, farming community and other groups along with other districts in the State so that a pattern could be established and strategies devised to curb the spread in the groups where highest numbers emerge.
The results are expected in a day or two.