Test after death only if patient had symptoms

Gurgaon: The health department, which was earlier testing all corpses for Covid-19 in Gurgaon, has now decided to test those who are suspected to have died of the virus.
Moreover, samples of people who died in containment zones, those with comorbidities, and others who are highly-suspected will be tested for Covid-19. The health department officials said this would reduce the burden of testing since the Covid-19 cases are now increasing significantly.
Officials said, they were earlier sending samples of people who died in road accidents also. “This causes unnecessary delay in handing over the body to the family. Moreover, with an increasing number of cases, testing every death would be difficult,” said a senior health department official.
Moreover, officials said that there are no guidelines that every death happening in the district has to be tested for Covid-19. “We have been told that our record of death declaration should be ready by 4pm every day so that the health bulletin of the district is released by 5pm. If the official information is released on time, it will prevent rumours. Testing only suspected deaths would help us prepare data and reports timely,” said the official.
Sources said that the matter was also discussed in a meeting held recently when the district officials were told to release the Covid bulletin on time, leaving no space for rumour during this pandemic.
In the past week, the district witnessed a significant jump in the number of deaths — from 11 on June 9 to 37 on June 15. Around 70% of total Covid deaths reported till June 15 were reported in just one week. The number of Covid-19 positive cases has been steadily increasing every day.
The projections calculated by an epidemiologist were discussed in a review meeting held recently for the Covid preparedness for Gurgaon. The projections say that around 35,000 Covid-19 cases will be reported by the end of June and first week of July.