Ranchi: Taking cognisance of the decline in sample collection and testing for Covid-19 in
Jharkhand, state health secretary Kamal Kishore Soan has directed all deputy commissioners of the districts to maintain optimal levels of sample collection and testing apart from enforcing guidelines and other important advisories issued by the Centre and the state.
Soan issued a directive to warn the districts in this regard on Thursday after several complaints were received regarding non-adherence of standard operating procedures and not achieving the
test per million (TPM) target.
Expressing serious concern over the falling number of tests in several districts, Soan directed the deputy commissioners of such districts to ensure that the numbers are strengthened as per the targets issued by the health department through its letter dated November 24, 2020.
According to Soan’s letter, six districts — Sahibganj, Palamu, Dhanbad, Hazaribagh, Ramgarh and Bokaro — have reported a decline in testing and were asked to increase it by identifying the reasons behind the poor performance. The order also directed the DCs concerned to ensure implementation of proper Covid-19 safety norms, including social distancing, use of mask and hand sanitizer at crowded places like market places, public transport vehicles, places of worship and conduct regular sample collection drives at such places.
Meanwhile, Pakur and Khunti, which had become Covid-free on December 24 and January 25, have again reported fresh cases last week. Even though the number of active cases in both the districts remained below five, the state health department has also issued the order to the two DCs to ensure that there are no fresh infections.
Talking to TOI, state head of Integrated Disease Surveillance Program (IDSP) Dr Praveen Karn said, “There has been a significant decline in the number of Covid-19 cases and deaths during the past few months in the state. But we have to be careful at this time because any negligence can cost us dear. Hence, the need to strengthen testing and to enforce proper Covid-19 protocols at places with high footfall to eliminate any infection threats.”
On the reasons behind the fresh cases in Khunti and Pakur after a gap of over three weeks, Dr Karn said, “The gap in the detection of cases is due to the hesitancy among people to get tested. However, proper contact-tracing has been done and none of the contacts has tested positive in both districts, which is a good sign.”
Highlighting efforts to increase testing, Dr Karn said, “We are not using rapid antigen tests for now and our focus is on RT-PCR and TruNat tests. We have also asked the districts to continue with information, education and communication (IEC) process for Covid-19 as well as the vaccination drive so that we can beat the pandemic at the earliest.”