Random COVID-19 testing would be more effective after establishment of a testing centre proposed at Mayiladuthurai, according to Health department sources.
For the last two months, the COVID Testing Centre at Nagapattinam Government Hospital has been handling samples in excess of capacity. The testing centre has a capacity to process results of swab samples taken from 80 persons on a daily basis. The random samples taken by the health department for testing are far higher. For instance, more than 350 samples were taken for testing on Tuesday, and a similar number of swab samples on Monday. “There was an accumulation of 800 samples and testing of every sample was the cause for Nagapattinam district accounting for 42 positive cases on Tuesday,” District Epidemiologist Liakath Ali said.
Though the district has been in a better position during June-July in conducting COVID 19 testing after establishment of a testing centre at the Nagapattinam GH, there was scope for expanding the testing capacity through installation of additional RNA extraction machines. The government has placed bulk orders for the equipment for ramping up COVID 19 testing capability, sources said.
At present, the gab between testing and arrival of results is in the range of 24 hours. The situation is deemed better than two months back when it took nearly two days since the samples from Nagapattinam district were to be sent to Tiruvarur Government Medical College Hospital.
The Health department sees scope for further prevention of infection. Advocating quarantining of suspect cases in quarantine centres, Dr. Liyakath Ali observed that instances of COVID 19 positive patients passing on infection to their family members and relatives were becoming noticeable.
There is a general tendency among people from whom swab samples are taken to pressurise officials to free them from quarantine without waiting for results. The Health department was dependent on media support to educate the public on this aspect, Dr. Liyakath Ali said.