LUCKNOW: Ahead of June 15 deadline set by CM Yogi Adityanath, UP on Friday accomplished the target of 15,000 sample tests per day. The state tested 15,607 samples during the last 24 hours. This has been the highest number of tests conducted in the state on a single day so far.
Meanwhile, the health authorities commenced targeted sample testing across the state to trace the spread of coronavirus, if at all, among identified target groups.
“We have crossed the figure of 15,000 now. Our next target is to take the test tally to 20,000 by this month-end,” said Principal Secretary, Health, Amit Mohan Prasad. He added that the tests were conducted in regular labs which marks the achievement of the benchmark set by the CM. “With breaching the 15,000-mark in sample testing, we have ramped up the facility to 60 times since those initial days when we used to conduct just 250-300 tests a day,” said Mohan.
So far, 4,19, 994 samples have already been tested in Uttar Pradesh.
After the influx of migrants, there has been a spike in the number of coronavirus cases, but the rate of recovery has now crossed the 60% mark. “The patients of COIVD-19 in UP are now recovering at a rate of 60.31%. Currently, the number of active cases in the state stands at 4642 while the number of those who have been discharged from the hospitals after recovery is 7609,” said the principal secretary, health.
With a total of 12,251 cases and 365 people having lost their lives due to pandemic, Uttar Pradesh figures at fifth position on the national tally in terms of cases after Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, and Gujarat. UP is the biggest in the country in terms of population.
Moreover, taking another crucial leap towards tracing the spread of the virus, UP health authorities started a campaign of targeted random sample testing from Friday. The first target group identified by the authorities was old age homes, shelter homes for destitute women, juvenile homes, and orphanages. “This will help in tracing the spread, if any, beyond contacts of those who have been traced so far,” said Amit Mohan.
On Saturday, the samples would be taken from the target group inclusive of slums of urban areas followed by samples of delivery boys, newspaper hawkers, vendors, and milkmen would be collected randomly and tested on Sunday. Likewise, Ayushman Mitras, hospital guards, and pharmacists would be covered on Monday, said the officer. He added that the campaign would run across the state for a week.
Meanwhile, to strengthen Covid-19 testing facilities further, the UP government has decided to set up BSL (biological safety levels) testing labs in underserved districts. As per the plan, seven BSL-2 level labs would come up in seven districts, while 13 BSL-3 labs would be established in medical colleges.
BSL refers to bio-safety standard benchmarks to undertake various pathological and diagnostic tests. Depending on features, they are categorized as 1,2,3 and 4. The prerequisites are finalized by research bodies in different countries.
According to officials, the seven selected districts are Moradabad, Bareilly, Aligarh, Varanasi, Basti, Gonda, and Lucknow where the labs would come up in addition to 42 Truenet machines which each has a capacity of testing 50 plus samples a day.