Health Ministry Flags Low Covid Testing
NEW DELHI, Mar 25: The Health Ministry on Saturday warned that at a time when the country was registering a sustained increase in the trajectory of COVID-19 cases since mid-February in some States, COVID-19 testing had declined. It pointed out that the current testing levels were worryingly low and insufficient as compared to the standards prescribed by the World Health Organization (WHO) of at least 140 tests per million.
In its advisory, the Ministry said testing at the level of districts and blocks also varied, with some States heavily relying on the less sensitive rapid antigen tests. “It is critical to maintain optimum testing for COVID-19 to identify any emerging hotspots and take pre-emptive steps to curb virus transmission,’’ said the advisory.
According to the Ministry as on date, most of the active COVID-19 cases in the country were largely being reported by a few States — Kerala (26.4%), Maharashtra (21.7%), Gujarat (13.9%), Karnataka (8.6%) and Tamil Nadu (6.3%). The Ministry has directed the States to take stock of hospital preparedness including drugs, beds including lCU beds, medical equipment, medical oxygen, capacity building of human resources on existing guidelines, as well as vaccination coverage.
Meanwhile, a nationwide mock drill is being planned on April 10 and 11 wherein health facilities (both public and private) from all districts are expected to participate. Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan in the advisory, said while the rates of hospitalisation and death due to the disease remained low largely because of the significant coverage achieved in terms of COVID-19 vaccination rates by all States/ UTs, this gradual rise in cases needed reinvigorated public health actions to contain the surge.
States/ UTs have been asked to keep a close watch on the evolving etiologies (causes of diseases) of influenza-like illness (lLl) and severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) cases. Giving an insight on the issue of seasonal circulation of pan-respiratory pathogens in the country, the Ministry said India usually saw a seasonal rise in influenza cases from January to March and again from August to October. Presently, the most prominent subtypes of influenza in circulation in the country seem to be influenza A (H1Nl) and influenza A (H3N2).
It added that COVID-19 and influenza shared a number of similarities in terms of mode of transmission, high risk population, clinical signs and symptoms. “While this may present a clinical dilemma for the attending doctors in terms of diagnosis, this also renders both these diseases easily preventable by following simple public health measures like avoiding overcrowded and poorly ventilated settings, using handkerchief/ tissue while sneezing or coughing, wearing a mask in crowded and closed settings, maintaining hand hygiene, avoiding spitting in public places etc.,’’ said the Ministry.
(Manas Dasgupta)
