Assam eyeing one lakh Covid tests in a single day by August 15

GUWAHATI: After crossing the 50,000 Covid test mark in a single day on Tuesday, the Assam health department is now eyeing to double the rate of testing by August 15.
Senior officials in the state health department said a target has been set to conduct as many as 1 lakh tests on a single day around August 12 to segrate the positive cases from within the community to contain the spread of the virus.
Varying positivity rates in the districts, which range from 21% to about 1.5%, have reflected the gaps in hygiene awareness level among the residents of different districts. The officials added that if testing is not ramped up, the pendulum may swing towards any side. From Kamrup (Metropolitan) district, the focus has now shifted to districts like Diburugah in eastern Assam, where the positivity rate is now most concerning.
“One lakh test is the target. Fixing the target is to give a direction for the district teams to work. The principle is to ensure that all positive patients are found out among the community,” director of National Health Mission (NHM), Assam, Lakshmanan S told TOI from Dibrugarh on Wednesday.
He added that the only way to survive from the economic point of view is to keep enhancing the number of tests. “Total lockdown is not the solution but identification, isolation and treatment is. If the number of tests is not increased, we are going to lose the patients and they will further spread the disease in the community. Till the vaccine comes, we have to contain the disease within manageable levels. Otherwise, the situation will go out of hand,” said Lakshmanan.
Encouraged by the success of Tuesday’s testing plan, where the health department could conduct about 10,000 more tests than the stipulated target, health officials said enhancing the testing rate will largely depend on the response from the residents from localities. “People must come forward in large numbers so that we can segregate the infected patients. Besides appealing to public to voluntarily come forward to Covid screening centres, the health department is specifically going for testing in a targeted population who frequently come in touch with others in garages, shops, companies, showrooms and malls. Once we succeed in screening the targeted population, the possibility of increase in infection will definitely reduce,” said executive director of NHM, Assam, Manoj Choudhury.
He added that while the overall positivity rate in the state continues to be around 5%, the number of positive cases have inflated in some districts may be due to ... “After relaxation was given in lockdownrules, the spread of the virus has been more in the districts. Maybe, in Guwahati, people maintained Covid protocols more sincerely and that’s why the positivity rate came down in the state capital. But of late, the number of testing has also increased in the districts outside Kamrup (Metropolitan) district,” Choudhury said.
"While the positivity rate in rapid antigen tests early this week was reported as high as 21% in Dibrugarh, in Majuli, which also comes under the same upper Assam region, the corresponding figures stood at 0.74%. In lower Assam districts like Barpeta and Nalbari, the positivity rate was found to be around 11% and 10% respectively. In the hill districts of KarbiAnglong and Dima Hasao, the same rate was between 1-2 percent,” a senior health official said.