In 2nd round of antigen tests in clusters, 2.6% positive for Covid

Gurgaon: In the past five days, 8,219 rapid antigen tests have been conducted in the city’s nine Covid-19 clusters, identified as large outbreak regions (LORs). Of these, 216 people, or 2.6%, have tested positive for the virus.
The first round of antigen testing took place in eight LORs from June 30 to July 14. The second round in the nine new LORs started on July 15 and will continue till July 28, after which the health department and district administration will assess the situation and take a call on whether to add new LORs or extend restrictions in the existing areas.
As per the district administration guidelines for rapid antigen testing, a person who tests positive and is symptomatic has to be admitted to a hospital. If the patient is discharged within 10 days, he or she is advised to follow seven-day home quarantine. If the person testing positive is asymptomatic, he or she has to be in home isolation, which is considered completed only after 17 days.
In case of a negative result, a conventional RT-PCR test is conducted, but only if the person is symptomatic. Till the result comes, the person has to be in two days of self-quarantine.
Officials said that the strategy is to test maximum people in the LORs so that Covid patients are isolated.
“In areas in the large outbreak regions, those who are symptomatic or have mild symptoms are getting themselves tested free of cost. We have constituted teams for each area to conduct the tests,” said a health department official. The schedule of the tests has been pasted outside each camp. Moreover, an additional doctor has also been deployed for people coming to these camps with non-Covid cases.
On Monday, 12 antigen testing camps were held in the LORs, including at CPM school in Rajiv Nagar East; Ambedkar Bhawan; H-block in Palam Vihar; UPHC in Laxman Vihar; Community Centre in Sector 23; Anand Park in Shivagi Nagar; Sohna Shivkund and Chanderlok in DLF Phase-2. A total of 1,247 people were tested, out of which 31 were positive for Covid-19.
“Earlier, we were testing about 2,000 people every day through antigen testing and RT-PCR. Now, we aim to test about 2,500 each day. We need to test more and isolate Covid patients at early stages of the infection,” said a senior health department official.