GURUGRAM: As the daily positivity rate has reached 15% in Gurugram due to the recent surge, the health department has restarted
antigen testing again for faster contact tracing and containment of the infection. As opposed to
RT-PCR tests which take 24 hours to provide a result, the
antigen tests take just 15 minutes.
The city on Thursday conducted 4,021
Covid tests, an all-time high in a single day,of which 819 were antigen testss, and 555 people tested
positive. Till Thursday, the city was conducting about 50 antigen tests. “We have started conducting antigen tests again as we need to isolate cases at the earliest and initiate contact tracing before the virus infects people who come in contact with the patient. We have received a fresh batch of antigen kits and all our PHCs have been given these kits to conduct more tests in the city,” said Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer, Gurugram.
The city’s Covid-19 tally now stands at 32,551. The health department said 405 people recovered on Thursday, bringing the total number of recoveries to 28,074.
The city has been witnessing a surge since October 21. On an average, more than 3,000 tests are being conducted in Gurugram daily. Three people succumbed to the infection in the past 24 hours, an official said. Till date, 222 people have died of Covid-19 in the city, of whom 156 had co-morbidities.
Apprehending that the critical cases might increase, the health department has proposed a new dedicated Covid care centre in Sohna. It will have 50 to 100 beds. “We have proposed to set up a new dedicated Covid care centre in Sohna and also to increase containment areas in the city further as many new areas have turned into hotspots recently. These include Tigra, Pataudi, Daulatabad, Bhangrola and Badshapur.”