Over 4,000 antigen tests for Covid so far, 5% have tested positive

Gurgaon: To determine and check the spread of Covid-19, nearly 5,000 antigen, Elisa and the conventional RT-PCR tests have been conducted in the city’s eight ‘large outbreak regions’, the hotspots that have reported more than 15 cases. Extensive screening is also taking place in these areas, where curbs on movement have been imposed till July 14, health officials said.
The results of around 5% of people were positive during antigen testing. “We have conducted 4,017 antigen and 626 RT-PCR tests in these areas. We have also covered 184 people in the sero-survey, which uses Elisa testing. While 196 antigen tests came out positive, 36 sero test results were positive too. We are targeting 2,000 antigen tests daily in the eight large outbreak regions,” said Gurgaon chief medical officer Virender Yadav.
Teams from the health department have also undertaken house-to-house surveys in the areas, officials said, adding that they were also keeping a watch patients who had been advised home isolation as they had mild symptoms. “Our teams are calling up Covid-19 patients daily to check their status. We have also taken the help of the district administration to ensure that people do not venture out in the outbreak regions,” said Yadav.
Free counselling sessions for patients in home isolation have also been started, he added. “We have initiated two sessions — from 11am to 1pm and from 5pm to 7pm — when doctors will answer the patients’ queries. We are also distributing booklets to spread awareness,” he said.
Rapid response teams have already given 200 oximeters to such patients and are monitoring their condition daily, a health official said.
Primary health centres in the areas have been tracing contacts of patients. “Our teams are gathering data of people who came in contact, including family members, colleagues and visitors. We have asked patients to download the Aarogya Setu app. In the last three days, we have screened about 4,000 people in the regions,” the official added.
On June 30, the district administration had carved out the eight regions, which account for more than 60% of the city’s total cases — Dundahera police station road, Aggarwal Sweets Gali (Sector 21), Dundahera Community Centre and Vishal Mega Mart street in Ward 4; Arjun Nagar, Jyoti Park and Madan Puri in Ward 16; Rattan Garden and Shivpuri in Ward 17; Shivaji Nagar and Shanti Nagar in Ward 20; Baldev Nagar, Firoz Gandhi Colony and Ravi Nagar in Ward 21, Heera Nagar, Gandhi Nagar and Shivaji Park in Ward 22, Hari Nagar and Shakti Park in Ward 23 and Nathupur abadi in Ward 35. All these areas are densely populated.
Curbs on movement will remain in all these areas till July 14. Asked if they could be further extended, an administration official said they will take a call depending on the situation. “We are closely monitoring the situation on the ground,” he said.