Puducherry to perform minimum 3,500 Covid-19 tests per day

PUDUCHERRY: The Puducherry administration will now perform over 3,500 Covid-19 tests per day to control the spread of the virus. Of the 3,792 tests performed on Saturday, 419 samples were positive.
The positivity rate currently stands at 11.3%, which is close to the national average, said relief and rehabilitation commissioner A Anbarasu. He said the number of tests performed per 10 lakh population in Puducherry is 20 times more than the number of tests performed per 10 lakh population nationally and two-and-half times more than the tests performed per 10 lakh population in Chennai.
At present, Jipmer, Vector Control Research Centre, Indira Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute (IGMC), and three private medical colleges are performing Covid-19 tests and four more private medical colleges will soon commence testing following the approval from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
Yanam with a 35% positivity rate was directed to increase the testing capacity to more than 300 per day and Karaikal to have 600 tests per day. The testing capacity of ICMC will be increased to 800 per day. The territory has a stock of 20,000 RT-PCR kits and has proposed to procure another 50,000 RT-PCR kits to increase the number of tests per day.
As many as 753 of a total number of 2,156 beds available in IGMC, Jipmer, and six private medical colleges, are vacant and of the 672 oxygen beds in the government and private facilities, 212 are vacant. The administration has proposed to add another 150 oxygen beds in a couple of days. In addition to this, 23 of the total 92 ventilators are available.
Anbarasu said the administration has proposed to conduct a death audit, comprising a clinical and a public health audit, to ascertain the exact causes of death of Covid-19 patients.
“If we analyze the data on Saturday, two of the five patients died on the same day of admission and one the next day. These deaths could have been avoided if the patients had approached the hospital for treatment at the earlier stages,” he added.
With 419 fresh cases reported on Saturday and 455 patients recovered, the number of active cases came down to 4,831. The total death toll reached 370, with 5 new deaths. The fatality rate of infection in the territory is 1.9%.
The territory has so far reported 19,439 positive cases of which 14,238 patients recovered and discharged and the recovery rate stands at 73.2%. Healthcare authorities have sent 95,919 swab samples of which 74,136 samples tested negative.