MYSURU: Mysuru, once a Covid hotspot, made a remarkable turnaround by bringing down active cases from 90 to zero. Now, Mysureans want more tests to be conducted to ascertain that no traces of the virus are left in the district. Random tests are important now as many people from abroad and other states are expected to enter the city over the next few days, the residents said.
This will mean that 18 technicians at the Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratory (VRDL), which functions out of the KR Hospital premises, will be kept busy. VRDL that started with only 100 tests per day in the beginning increased it to 350-4000 as it collected samples from Mysuru, Mandya, Kodagu and Chamarajanagar districts. The lab could scale up operations as the Central Food Technological Research Institute donated PACR machines, while the Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL) handed over state-of-the-art PARAKH - a Mobile Microbial Containment (BSL-3) Laboratory.
So far, VRDL has tested over 11,800 samples, of which over 5,900 were from Mysuru district. This amounts to 1,968 tests per million, which is slightly lesser than the state average of 2,072 tests per million, according to the data available with The New Sunday Express. The officials said that they tested frontline staff, including officials, Asha workers, policemen and media persons, and not all as there was no community spread in Mysuru.
Dr Amrutha Kumari B, the nodal officer of VRDL and in-charge of the Covid-19 test laboratory, said that more samples are now coming from Mandya district, which is seeing a spike in cases. Sources said MLAs from the city are pressing for more random tests. MLA Nagendra said district in-charge minister ST Somashekar and others have clarified that there is no cap on the number of tests that can be conducted.
VRDL that started with only 100 tests per day in the beginning increased it to 350-4000 as it collected samples from Mysuru, Mandya, Kodagu and Chamarajanagar districts