BHU lab asked to test samples from hotspots on priority

VARANASI: Concerned over delay in finalising the deadline to lift restrictions from hotspot areas where no new cases of Covid-19 have been reported in the last 15 days, the district administration held a meeting with BHU laboratory authorities on Monday to prioritise testing of samples collected from these areas.
District magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma said, “Madanpura, Bajardiha, Lohta and Gangapur were declared hotspots on April 4 after detection of Covid-19 positive cases.Except Madanpura, no further cases were found in Lohta and Bajardiha. In Gangapur also both family members of Kolkata trader, who had died on April 3 after which his test report confirmed him positive next day, had returned home on getting cured at district hospital.”
“In follow-up action, many samples from areas like Bajardiha, Lohta and Gangapur had been collected and sent for laboratory test. When the progress in testing of all the samples sent to BHU lab was checked on Monday morning, it was found that reports of those samples are still awaited,” he said.
“Despite releasing test reports in bulk on Saturday and Sunday by BHU lab, test report of over 250 samples including those collected from hotspots of the districts had not arrived. In view of it a team of officials had been sent to hold meeting with BHU laboratory,” said DM.
The DM further said during this meeting, the BHU laboratory authorities were asked to conduct test of the samples collected from hotspot areas of Varanasi on priority.
He said that as the number of areas with positive cases was rising, lab authorities were asked to pay special attention towards the samples sent from here. He expressed the hope that as the BHU lab has also started pool testing, it is expected that all backlog would be cleared very soon.
Meanwhile, divisional commissioner Deepak Agrawal and IG Varanasi range VS Mina took stock of the arrangements made in Arjunpur village after it was made the eighth hotspot of the district on Sunday night when two labourers ho returned from Kolkata were diagnosed as infected.