Till the vehicles for mobile testing are in place, UT has plans to earmark spaces in high-risk, containment and semi-containment zones, to conduct Rapid Antigen tests in cluster.The past one week has seen a steady surge in Covid-19 cases from across Chandigarh, with Monday, August 17 recording the highest number as 114 people tested positive for the disease in the UT.
With the Administration all set to ramp up testing in the city, GMSH-16 is examining the infrastructure for mobile testing in different areas, with the Health Department now fortifying health facilities in Sectors 22, 45 and Mani Majra for both RT-PCR and Rapid Antigen testing.
“While labs in the PGI, GMSH-16 and GMCH-32 have been testing, to facilitate people, these hospitals, which also have flu clinics will test all patients who come to these clinics and all those who are symptomatic can get tests done from 9 am to 4 pm,” said a doctor at GMSH-16.
Till the vehicles for mobile testing are in place, UT has plans to earmark spaces in high-risk, containment and semi-containment zones, to conduct Rapid Antigen tests in clusters, so that patients don’t have to travel for tests.
The number of Covid-19 positive cases in Chandigarh, points out a senior official from the health department, has seen a sharp rise, since borders to Chandigarh have opened, and contact tracing has become tougher, with patients from outside Chandigarh also opting to get tested here.
Added to that, with an Adhaar card and prescription not mandatory for a test, it is becoming tough to track positive cases and their contacts and isolate them.
According to a doctor in the city, it is a myth that the infection spreads only from symptomatic cases, for asymptomatic people can equally spread the infection. The best way to reduce the burden on hospitals is for patients who are asymptomatic and have mild symptoms to isolate themselves at home.
With a large number of people living in colonies and urban slums, she said, there is an urgent need to check the spread of infection and devise methods for knowledge sharing about the novel coronavirus, safety measures, the importance of wearing masks and washing hands through regular camps, loudspeakers and talks in these areas.
It is paramount that cloth masks be distributed to people free of cost, so they can wash these masks and use them again.
Burail Jail, added the doctor, can be engaged for this exercise, as there are many who cannot afford to buy the use-and-throw masks, which are effective only for a few hours.
While doctors refuse to comment if the city is now facing a community spread, the numbers from different sectors in Chandigarh are rising daily, with the cases not confined to any particular area.
As per the latest data on the area wise Covid-19 cases in Chandigarh, the highest number of total positive cases, 289, are from Bapu Dham Colony, with three deaths also reported there and active cases being 18.
This is followed by Mani Majra, which has 152 cases, with 94 active cases. Dhanas has 85 positive cases, 19 active cases, with one death reported, followed by Sector 45, which has 78 positive cases, with three deaths and 35 active cases.
Mauli Jagran’s number is 70 positive cases, 42 active cases and one death, with Sector 40 reporting one death and 67 positive cases, 43 active cases. Sector 32 reported 67 positive cases, 33 active and one death.
In Sector 41 there are 66 positive cases, 36 active and Ram Darbar has 62 positive cases, 32 active and one death. While Sector 38 has 54 positive cases, with 32 active and one death reported, Sector 20 has 47 positive cases, with 31 active.
Burail now has 45 positive cases, 21 active, with two deaths. Daria now has 41 positive cases, with 20 active.
On the PGI campus, 841 patients were tested, among them positive are 29 and active are nine. The highest number of active cases is in Mani Majra (94), Sector 40 (43), Mauli Jagran (42), Sector 45 (35, three deaths), Sector 38 (32, one death), Ram Darbar (32 and one death) and Dadu Majra (23 and one death).
Sector 45 has three Covid-19 deaths, as does Bapu Dham, followed by Burail, where two deaths were reported.