BHUBANESWAR: Even as Odisha continues to record test positivity rate (TPR) of more than 20 per cent (pc) for over a week, testing has hit another low leading to a drop in new Covid-19 cases. The fresh infections fell from 12,238 on May 6 to 9,793 in the last 24 hours so did the number of tests from 50,799 to 46,241 with the health authorities attributing it to the weekend lull. The RT-PCR tests also came down from a range of over 20,000 a day to 16,000.
The State was in fact conducting more tests during the first wave when the number of daily infections was less. The highest 68,906 tests, including 7,585 through RT-PCR, were conducted on August 22 last year when the number of cases detected was 2,993 with TPR of 4.34 pc. Surprisingly, the State is conducting less than 50,000 tests per day now when the cases have increased more than four-fold of the daily caseload in the first wave and almost all districts are in the grip of the deadly virus.
Reports from districts indicate people with symptoms of coronavirus are unable to get themselves tested with laboratories overburdened and test reports significantly delayed. The State has around 33 RT-PCR labs including six controlled by private entities with an overall testing capacity of over 25,000 per day if run in three shifts. While one machine at the lab in Koraput and the other at Berhampur are not functioning for the last several days, most of the others are running in two shifts.
District health officials attributed various factors for the plateau in daily tests. They said the labs are overloaded due to increase in demand of RT-PCR test as it is also being used for travel purposes other than detection of infection besides the shortage of testing kits and viral transport medium (VTM) that allows safe transfer of samples. A health official said laboratories faced VTM and RAT kit shortage as the suppliers delayed delivery owing to rising demand from various states and the Centre.
“The laboratories are facing challenges to meet the expected testing target. The supply of rapid antigen testing kits is also not adequate. We cannot take the risk of running RT-PCR machines in three shifts as lab technicians and microbiologists are working in limited numbers and the machines also need rest,” said a health official.
Experts said when most of the transmission chains are unknown and contact tracing is difficult, the testing strategy should be region-wise with priority on strategic random sampling. Apart from Sundargarh where the RT-PCR daily target is 1,300 per day, the molecular test share in other high TPR western Odisha districts ranges between 300 and 600.
“The government should go for population-based testing. Since there is community spread, as many rapid tests as possible should be carried out. The reporting turnaround time must be limited to one hour,” said community medicine expert Dr Binod Patro. Additional Chief Secretary of Health PK Mohapatra said the State has started receiving kits and other essentials from suppliers.