The State government has decided to increase the number of RT-PCR tests along with increasing testing in general.
The decision was taken at a meeting held by Health Minister Eatala Rajender with Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar and Principal Secretary of Health department Syed Ali Murtaza Rizvi at the Secretariat on Monday to take stock of the COVID situation in the State.
At present, the Health department does not mention details of the number of RT-PCR tests conducted per day in daily media bulletins.
Health teams use Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) and RT-PCR tests to detect if someone has coronavirus. While results of RAT tests are made available within a few hours of collecting the sample, it takes one to two days to receive results of the later.
Earlier, senior Health officials had said that people opting for government healthcare facilities can choose between RAT and RT-PCR tests.
From March 15, over 60,000 samples are being put to test on a daily basis. A majority of the samples are examined in government health facilities.
Another decision that was taken at Monday’s meeting was to keep the hospitals prepared for a surge in patient admissions if the cases were to increase further.
Arrangements would be made in COVID-19 wards of Gandhi Hospital and the Telangana Institute of Medical Sciences.
While claiming that COVID cases in the State were under control, the Health Minister has directed Mr Rizvi to make available the required number of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits, N95 masks, and medicines used in treatment of the infectious disease.
For the past four days, over 300 cases are being detected per day.
Mr Rajender has urged people to maintain COVID-appropriate behaviour such as wearing mask, regularly sanitising or washing hands, maintaining physical distance, and stepping out of home only when necessary.
