Shift in focus as Karnataka reduces daily Covid-19 testing target

BENGALURU: Taking a cue from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines, the state health department on Tuesday revised daily Covid-19 testing target from 2. 8 lakh to two lakh.
At a meeting chaired by chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday, several aspects related to Covid test ing were discussed. The government eventually decided to stop testing asymptomatic people, including contacts of those who test positive, as recommended by ICMR.
“The number of tests can be reduced gradually.However, in Bengaluru, the daily target of one lakh tests must be continued,” said state Covid-19 Technical Ad visory Committee (TAC) members who participated in the discussion.
Dr Arundhathi Chandrasekhar, mission director, National Health Mission, Karnataka, also the nodal officer for Covid-19 testing, said the state had done 1. 5 lakh tests a day till January 12, when it was increased to 2. 8 lakh following the Con gress padayatra.
“When we wanted to increase the daily testing target to two lakh, the padayatra happened and testing was increased in Ramanagara and Bengaluru Rural districts,” said Dr Chandrasekhar. “So, the daily testing target rose to 2. 8 lakh a day. Now, it has been reduced to two lakh a day. ”
She said the state will continue to test high-risk primary contacts of a Covidpositive person, depending on age and comorbidities. Higher than other states “Even at this reduced rate of two lakh tests a day, the testing scenario in Karnataka is much better than other states,” said Dr CN Manjunath, nodal officer for Covid testing and a member of TAC. Statistics bear this out. For example, on January 10, Karnataka had conducted more than 1. 5 lakh tests, while Andhra Pradesh conducted a mere 24,280 tests, Telangana 70,697 and Tamil Nadu over 1. 3 lakh.
“We compared testing figures with other cities too and Bengaluru still compared favourably. On January 10, Bengaluru had conducted 71,568 tests, while Mumbai did 48,114, Chennai 23,858, and Hyderabad 12,461,” said sources. This data was presented to CM Bommai on Monday.
ICMR had recommended a strategy of “purposive testing”, with focus on those who are symptomatic and at-risk contacts of a Covidpositive person. “ICMR has listed who need not be tested,” experts said. “This includes asymptomatic individuals in community settings; contacts of confirmed Covid cases unless identified as high risk based on age and comorbidities; and patients who are discharged from hospitals and from home isolation. ” End random tests Sources say experts recommended that the government stop random tests on the general population in places like markets, malls, factories, offices and hotels besides restaurant staff, door-delivery personnel and others. Experts say the current requirement is to ensure that testing is cost-effective.
“The focus should now shift from infections to cases. Authorities should detect those who are symptomatic and initiate treatment at the earliest and isolate them. The focus is equally on reducing hospitalisations and preventing deaths,” said experts.