BHUBANESWAR: As fresh COVID cases continue to rise, the State government has ramped up testing from sub 50,000 range to 70,000 in order to detect asymptomatic patients to prevent further spread of infection.
Although the Health department had decided to maintain the 70,000 daily testing range till the end of November to keep a tab on the infection pattern ahead of the third wave of the pandemic, the number of tests had dropped to 53,709 on October 14 due to Durga Puja vacation.
Testing has been accelerated in 25 districts and Bhubaneswar city that has been recording 150 to 250 cases a day for more than a month now. As decided, the city administration almost doubled the testing. Sources said that while 6,972 samples including 2,578 through RT-PCR were tested a day before in the Capital City, 12,070, including 2,739 RT-PCR tests were conducted in the last 24 hours.
The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) had decided to conduct random testing in markets, hospitals and crowded places following a sharp rise in cases post Dussehra. A BMC official said that testing camps are being organised at zonal level on different days while random testing is being conducted in places where cluster outbreaks are reported.
The new strategy will help isolate COVID suspects and check transmission, he said. The Health department has also increased the number of tests in districts that were worst hit during the second wave of the pandemic.
The districts where collection of samples and testing were increased, include Cuttack, Balasore, Angul, Jajpur, Sambalpur, Sundargarh, Bargarh, Jharsuguda, Koraput, Mayurbhanj, Puri and Ganjam. Director of Health Services Dr Bijay Mohapatra said districts have been asked to maintain their testing target until further orders.
There is no dearth of samples as many people are reporting to hospitals with flu symptoms, he said. Meanwhile, new cases continued to remain above 500 for the second consecutive day on Wednesday as 559 infections were reported from 23 districts.
Khurda topped the list with 279 cases followed by Cuttack (54). Seven districts did not record any new cases. With 209 new cases in last 24 hours, the active cases in Bhubaneswar rose to 3,558. The State now has 4,334 active cases after recovery of 451 patients.
Vaccination, however, slowed down due to Kumar Purnima festival as around 1.9 lakh doses were administered on Wednesday as against 2.78 lakh on Tuesday.
Testing figures
70,000 test per day: Target set by government
Tests had dropped to 53,709 on October 14 due to Durga Puja vacation
12,070 tests conducted in State capital in last 24 hours
Number of tests hiked in 10 districts worst hit during second wave of the pandemic