VISAKHAPATNAM: GVMC and health officials have begun collecting samples from persons with symptoms of coronavirus as soon as they are identified during surveys. As part of the joint action plan, ward volunteers and para-medical staff, who are undertaking the door-to-door surveys, must share details of the symptomatic persons with the authorities concerned immediately.
Four mobile teams comprising ENT doctors, pulmonologists and lab technicians have been formed for the purpose who work in all the eight zones of the city. While two teams cover four zones—2, 3, 5 and 6— and Ankapalle, zones 1 and 4 have been assigned one team each. The group assigned for zone 1 also covers Bheemili.
These teams are given PPE kits and their vans fitted with sterilisation equipment. The collected samples are taken to the Government Hospital for Chest and Communicable Diseases for Truenat TB tests. If they test positive, then the samples will be sent to virology lab at the KGH for further confirmation. In the last two days, the teams have collected 141 samples in the city.
Truenat TB test
The Truenat TB tests are being done at GHCCD cultural lab where real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) kits are available. Since April 11, as many as 220 samples were screened at the lab and all of them tested negative.The Truenat samples are sent to the virology lab for confirmation. Samples from suspected cases at Pradhama, VIMS and GITAM Hospitals were also sent to GHCCD lab for the test. For each sample, the test takes around 70 minutes. There are 10 RT-PCR kits at the GHCCD and 36 personnel work in three shifts there