Covid-19 testing up 10 folds in Bihar, three lakh samples tested in past one week

PATNA: The state’s per day testing capacity has gone up by nearly 10 times over the past one month with over three lakh samples tested in the past one week alone.
And to further ramp up the testing rate using the more accurate RT-PCR method, the health department has tasked all private medical colleges and hospitals to start this facility this month.
As per information shared by the state health department on Friday, 71,520 samples were tested in a 24-hour time period and so far, 8,70,852 samples have been tested. Of these, over three lakh samples have been tested in just one week in the month of August.
As per the health department data on July 7, 5,168 samples were reported to have been tested in 24 hours and a cumulative 2,69,277 samples were tested till then. Till July 31, 54,8172 samples were tested in the state.
When asked if the government had set any target of how many samples have to be tested per day or cumulatively, health department principal secretary Pratyaya Amrit replied, “There is no such target. The more we test, the better it is. We have revamped and our emphasis is on testing, testing and more testing”
Amrit said before increasing the testing capacity, the strength of the entire team was analyzed, including district administration officials, doctors, technicians and then the ramping up was done. He said of the total samples tested so far, 46.5% were tested through the rapid antigen method, 40.31% through RT-PCR and a little over 13% through TrueNat.
When asked about CM Nitsih Kumar’s instruction to provide testing facility through RT-PCR method in all districts, Amrit said, “All five private medical colleges and hospitals in the state have been instructed to begin this facility in August. JLMNCH in Bhagalpur has been given August 10 deadline and NMCH has been given August 31 deadline to start RT-PCR in their respective medical colleges and hospitals.” He further said the department was in the process to procure more RT-PCR machines with automated RNA extraction kits.
As of now, tests through RT-PCR method are being conducted at RMRI, IGIMS, AIIMS-Patna, PMCH, DMCH and ANMCH in Bihar.