BHU lab told to test samples of symptomatic first

Varanasi: Worried over the increasing wait for the reports of Covid-19 samples reaching the Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratory (VRDL) of microbiology department of Banaras Hindu University from the districts of east UP region, the administration has decided to give priority to samples of symptomatic people.
Due to rising number of samples being forwarded to the BHU lab, the lab officials have been asked to test the samples of symptomatic oersons first and then the samples collected randomly in other districts.
When TOI tried to take stock of the reports of the samples of Covid-19 suspected cases of Varanasi on Thursday, district magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma said, “Till April 14 we had received reports of in 425 samples while report of over 600 samples sent to BHU lab is awaited. Increasing load of samples from all other districts random collection of samples are is being conducted has led to pendency in the test reports.”
On being contacted, in-charge of BHU lab Prof Gopal Nath admitted, “Samples collected randomly in all district connected to this lab had increased the load massively. Our lab has the capacity of testing 300 samples per day. But, samples from 16 districts are coming in a great number. We had cleared 311 samples on Wednesday while 300 reports will be given by Thursday night. Despite working more than the capacity of the lab, around 600 samples are still left for the test.”
Nath said that new instructions have been issued to reduce the flow of random sampling and it is expected that already deposited samples will be tetsed in a day or two.
The DM said that the lab officials have been requested to give the samples of symptomatic people priority over the random samples .
This lab had been started to test the samples of 16 districts of east UP region with a single Covid-19 test machine on March 6 but by the end of March its capacity was enhanced with installation of two more machines. By the end of April first week it had started testing up to 200 samples in 24 hours.
The laboratory had started facing shortage of all these kits by April 5. On April 6 an Air India’s chartered flight landed with Covid-19 test, RNA extraction, personal protective equipment (PPE) and other kits at LBS International Airport here and to supply these articles at BHU lab.