Cases rise, but testing crawls

Ludhiana: Even as Covid-19 cases have witnessed a rise in Ludhiana in the past almost two weeks, the district health department has not been able to meet the target for daily testing even for a day during this period.
Though daily testing target had been fixed at 1,200 for the district, actual testing has barely managed to reach the halfway mark. The data said the number of daily tests in Ludhiana stood at 585 on March 30, which dropped to 261 the next day. It increased to 654 on April 2, but the very next day, the number of tests were just 154 tests and a day after 637 Covid tests were done in Ludhiana. On April 6, the number of tests stood at 592.


A health officer on the condition of anonymity said even as they are trying to get more than 1,000 tests done in the district, there is some sort of resistance from people in getting tested. He said despite that they are getting tests of patients with influenza-like illness symptoms, patients at OPD, undertrials, pre-operative cases and international travellers.
“In view of the slight rise in the case, we are also advising people to follow Covid norms including wearing of masks, maintaining social distancing and hand hygiene,” said the officer.
Civil surgeon Dr Hatinder Kaur said testing is being increased and they are sensitising people about the need to follow Covid norms.
Health experts said the adequate number of tests in a day is important to gauge the level of infection in the district.
“As cases have witnessed a slight rise recently, it is advisable that the agency concerned gets adequate number of tests done in the district on the basis of its population, so that level of infection in the system is known. This helps in taking measures to check the spread of infection,” said president-elect of Punjab IMA Dr Sunil Katyal. He said people especially those with comorbidities should follow Covid appropriate behaviour.