Ranchi: The state health department has set a target of testing 1.4 lakh people for Covid-19 in a two-day drive which commenced on Saturday in order to increase surveillance and detection of cases among people with travel history during the festive season. The move is also aimed at securing the vulnerable population from being infected.
Talking to TOI, state health secretary Nitin Madan Kulkarni said, “The idea behind the mass testing drive is to stop the infection from spreading.”
On being asked about what will be their area of focus, Kulkarni said that not only do they want to detect infected persons, but also minimise the mortality rate among people who are most vulnerable to the virus.
“We have seen that the maximum number of cases have been detected among people in the age group of 14 to 40 and that is because of our big population share in that age group. So this age group will be our priority during the tests. People above 60 years of age will also be given priority as the mortality rate is the highest among them. People suffering from co-morbidities will also be tested as they are more susceptible to become critical after developing the infection,” Kulkarni said.
According to health department sources, all districts, especially the ones sharing borders with Bihar and has reported heavy migration during Chhath Puja and weddings, have been asked to make necessary arrangements for conducting tests. Each district has been given a target.
On Saturday, a total of 31,500 tests were conducted across the state. On Sunday, all the 24 districts will be conducting the drive with targets set between 2,000 and 7,500 tests per district.
As per official document of the state health department, Ranchi and East Singhbhum conducted 7,500 tests each on Saturday, followed by 5,000 each in Bokaro and Hazaribag. While Ramgarh conducted 2,500 tests, Khunti and Lohardaga tested 2,000 people each on Saturday.
On Sunday, a total of over 1 lakh tests are set to be conducted with Ranchi, Dhanbad, East Singhbum and Giridih being asked to conduct 7,500 tests each. Palamu has been given a target of 6,000 tests while West Singhbhum, Koderma, Deoghar and Bokaro will be conducting 5,000 tests each. Sahibganj has been asked to conduct 4,500 tests while Chatra, Dumka, Garhwa, Godda, Gumla, Seraikela and Simdega have been given a target of 4,000 tests each. Jamtara, Latehar and Pakur have to conduct 3,500 tests each while Hazaribagh and Ramgarh will conduct 2,500 each followed by 2,000 each for Khunti and Lohardaga.