At 378 cases, Patna logs highest 1-day spike

PATNA: The state capital witnessed its highest single-day spike in Covid-19 cases so far with 378 cases reported on Thursday. There has been an “exponential rise” in the coronavirus cases in Patna over the past few days with 2,880 total cases recorded in the district so far.
“While contact-tracing positive cases, we found that not taking precautions while on the road quadrupled the number of cases. For instance, Shastri Nagar, which is one of the worst-affected areas, has several vegetable and fruit markets. Residents throng the marketplaces without wearing masks,” said Patna DM Kumar Ravi, adding, cases started rising after Unlock 1.0 as people started moving about without safety precautions.
According to Ravi, the New Capital Circle which houses several government departments has become a hotspot due to unavoidable reasons. “The nature of their jobs is also one of the reasons for the surge in cases here as government employees, doctors and cops cannot restrict themselves to their homes. In fact, a number of health workers at PMCH and NMCH have already been infected by the virus,” he said.
Similarly, houses in Patna City are located cheek by jowl. “Most streets in Patna City have already been classified as containment zones in order to curb the spread of the virus,” Ravi said.
Several methods such as rapid antigen testing and testing at portable booths are being given preference to increase testing in the city. “More than 500 people in the Patna division were tested using the rapid antigen testing kits on Thursday. The numbers will increase from tomorrow,” said divisional commissioner Sanjay Kumar Agarwal.
According to health experts, rapid antigen testing may help in controlling the spread as they show results in 30 minutes.
“As per the findings of the Journal of the American Medical Association, antibody testing, which is done by two methods, including rapid antibody test as well as ALISA test is quite significant and has a success rate of 100%,” said Dr Satyendra Narayan Singh, head of microbiology at the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH).
Meanwhile, many Patna residents claimed that they are facing hassles in getting bed at the hospitals. Ashok Rajpath resident Kriti Kumari (name changed), whose father tested Covid-19 positive recently, didn’t get a bed at AIIMS-Patna. “After watching certain videos on social media, I didn’t feel like taking him to NMCH or PMCH. Hence, I have kept him in home quarantine,” she said.