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NEW DELHI : With covid cases plateauing to just over 2,000 in the last 24 hours, the government has revised its surveillance strategy, which will now involve selective 6-8 lakh RT-PCR tests per day of OPD patients showing symptoms of flu.
“Now RT-PCR testing is being done for those patients with symptoms like fever, cough and cold or with flu like symptoms visiting at the sentinel sites such as hospitals. This is going to be a selective testing strategy of around 6-8 lakh every day across India to understand the pattern, variation and transmission rate of the virus. Now, people are thinking that covid is mild and most of the people don’t go to hospital for testing. This surveillance strategy will keep a close watch on virus so that scientists are aware of the disease pattern in India," said a government official requesting anonymity.
Queries mailed to health ministry spokespeople on Monday remained unanswered at press time.
“If fewer samples are tested, there are chances that one can miss catching the virus," said the official. Another official said the government is also planning to expand sewage sample surveillance. “Sewage samples let us know that if cases are going to increase in any particular area, the viral load in the sample increases."