Ghaziabad/Noida: Gautam Budh Nagar and Ghaziabad have been meeting less than half of their
daily targets set by the government for Covid-19 tests. Health officials said of late, that not many residents are turning up to get themselves tested, while pointing out that the positivity rate had also been on the decline in both the districts.
So far this year, while GB Nagar had a target of 5,000 tests each day, it conducted about 1,500-2,000 tests on an average daily, government data till February 9 shows. Ghaziabad’s daily average
testing stood roughly at 2,056, against a set testing target of 5,200.
From September till December, more than one lakh
Covid tests were done in Ghaziabad every month, but this figure reduced to 69,000 in January. In the first nine days of February, about 13,000 people were tested. The daily average testing went up from 3,713 in September to 3,973 in October, but then gradually came
down to 3,936 in November and 3,326 in December. This month, its daily average has fallen compared to January – from 2,225 to 1,438.
In GB Nagar, over a lakh tests were conducted each month from September till the end of the year, but reduced to 63,000 last month.
In February so far, 16,000 tests were done. While the daily average testing went down from 3,609 in September to 3,346 in October, it went up to 3,460 in November and to 3,926 in December, before the sudden drop in January again.
Officials of Ghaziabad’s health department said residents are not coming forward to get themselves tested, even as the facility is available at 15 spots. “People are just not interested in Covid tests anymore. The arrival of the vaccine and low infection rates seem to be the main reasons. Earlier, people used to give samples for Covid testing even for mild fever but now, most of them take medicines and don’t want to get tested,” said a health official.
Sources in the health department said at present, only those who have to go back to their offices or plan to travel are undergoing the Covid tests.
Dr Sanjeev Manglik, nodal officer for testing in GB Nagar, told TOI the targets were given around July when Covid cases were peaking. “However, now the positivity rate has also drastically declined. From over 1,500 antigen tests on Wednesday, just one was positive, which is good news,” he said.
Noida’s positivity rate has definitely declined -- from 4.64% in September, it dropped marginally to 4.44% in October and went up again to 4.68% in November. However, it dipped to 1.77% in December and further to 0.68% in January. In February so far, it has stood at 0.28%.
The positivity rate has seen a significant decline in Ghaziabad as well. It was 5.92% in September and further declined to 4.03% in October. A slight increase was seen in November, when this figure stood at 4.14%. Thereafter, there was a sharp drop – to 2.99% in December and 0.73% in January. From February 1 to 9, it stood at 0.3%.
Noida officials attributed the reduced testing and positivity rate to people developing Covid antibodies. “According to our surveillance about three months ago, 27.8% of Noida residents had developed antibodies. This would have gone up to around 35% by now. This is the reason for the drop in cases and also why fewer people feel the need to get tested,” said Dr Deepak Ohri, chief medical officer, GB Nagar.
Meanwhile, while the average daily tests may have decreased in both the cities, the data shows that their overall testing numbers are among the top three among the six districts in Meerut zone. Meerut leads with more than eight lakh tests, followed by Ghaziabad with over 7.3 lakh and GB Nagar with about 7.1 lakh. These are followed by Baghpat, Hapur and Bulandshahr.