BHUBANESWAR: The practice of conducting Covid tests on all members of a family in case one of them is found positive will be back in place from Wednesday to isolate those carrying the
virus as the government and civic authorities try to contain a possible surge being witnessed in some other states.
The practice had been stopped since June after Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (
BMC), the nodal agency to oversee Covid management in the city, opened voluntary testing kiosks at primary and community health centres. People with or without symptoms are still being offered this facility and all the health centres, where testing kiosks have been opened, are fully functional.
Officials said in case of voluntary testing, if one person of a family turns up voluntarily and tests positive for Covid, those living with him/her are not coming forward for tests. “Now, we have decided to bring all the family members under scanner. This practice was there before. The BMC commissioner has discussed the matter with officials concerned,” said Suvendu Sahu, city nodal officer (Covid management).
The spurt in Covid cases in some states has prompted the city authorities to reopen testing camps. These camps, which had been shut in December, are apart from the ones running at primary and community health centres. “We have decided to restart three to four Covid testing camps at different places to augment testing,” Sahu added.
The BMC has also decided to aggressively launch contact tracing so as to identify all those who are suspected to have come in contact with a Covid positive person. The BMC had significantly downsized its manpower engaged in contact tracing after daily count went down. It has relived 15 assistant section officers (ASO), who were deputed from the secretariat and were engaged in Covid duty. Besides, six doctors had been relieved on January 31. The BMC retained only four doctors. But sources said, if needed, the civic body will increase manpower.
Given the scenario in some states, city-based doctor Manoj Sahu said it is wise to stay alert and augment resources to increase testing and contact tracing. “Bhubaneswar has accumulated close to 32,000 positive cases. Now, there is no restriction on movement of people from one state to another and intra-state as well. In this situation, it is more than wise to maintain Covid-appropriate behaviour,” said Sahu.