NEW DELHI: Despite a 400 percent rise in Covid-19 cases in India in the last two weeks, testing hasn’t picked up, with some states not even sharing publically the data on the number of RT-PCR tests being conducted daily, even though the centre has issued advisories on ramping it up.
A latest survey also confirmed that people are not taking Covid-19 tests despite having Covid-19 symptoms. The survey conducted among 11,000 people in 303 districts in the country showed that 76 percent did not undertake Covid-19 testing, even though they had the symptoms.
The survey highlighted that the actual Covid-19 cases might be underreported by 300 percent in India.
Experts said testing is important as it not only helps in generating a more “accurate epidemiological picture” but in providing quick treatment as well as isolation for an asymptomatic patient who might otherwise transmit the disease in the community.
Even though testing capacity has increased since the Covid-19 outbreak, the number of new Covid-19 tests has fallen drastically this year.
According to Krishna Prasad N C, a Covid data analyst, during the first and second Covid-19 waves, India conducted 17.7 crores of Covid tests in 2020 compared to 54 crores in 2021. In 2022, the number went down to 19.5 crores.
This year, till April 5 when India is once again registering a surge in Covid-19 cases triggered by XBB.1.16, 1.1 crore Covid-19 tests were recorded.
Last year in March, India conducted 2.13 crore tests, compared to 28.82 lakh tests this year. Similarly, in the first five days in April 2022, which was again seeing a rise, especially in Delhi and NCR region, 22.56 lakh Covid tests were conducted as compared to 6.49 lakh in the same corresponding period this year, said Krishna Prasad, the Kerala-based Covid-data analyst, who has been very actively updating India’s Covid data daily since the pandemic started. On Thursday, however, the country reported an 11 percent increase in testing from the previous day.
Concerned by the low uptake, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday at the review meeting with health state ministers said that 23 states and union territories had average tests per million below the national average.
He directed states to “expeditiously increase" the rate of testing from the current rate of 100 tests per million(as on week ending April 7). States were further advised to increase the share of RT-PCR in tests.
Experts said the reason behind the low uptake of Covid testing – despite the surge - could be various reasons. One is Covid fatigue, and second many people now take home tests, which may or may not be accurate.
According to the survey, conducted by LocalCircles, India's leading community social media platform, only 12 percent admitted to having taken an RT-PCR and another 12 percent taking both RT-PCR and Rapid Antigen Test.
“Most people aren’t considering taking the Covid-19 test unless the individual experiencing them has co-morbidities or other conditions, while the majority are just undertaking symptomatic treatment. The survey showed that 3 in 4 surveyed with Covid-19 symptoms in the last month confirm not undertaking the Covid test,” Sachin Taparia, Founder of LocalCircles, told this paper.
“Qualitative feedback indicates that most people are avoiding taking the Covid test to continue with their routine and activity like they typically do when they have a cold or seasonal flu,” he said.
Dr Rajeev Jayadevan, co-chairman of the National Indian Medical Association (IMA) Covid-19 task force, said the reported number would not be close to the actual number of infections in any community, especially during the time of a surge.
“Many institutions test for Covid only in case of severe respiratory illness that requires admission so that they can triage the patient accordingly and customise treatment.”
“This leads to an underestimate of the number of cases in the community, which is particularly evident in developing countries - in contrast with wealthy nations like the UK and the US,” he said.
He said the downside of not testing is that people who are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic might wander around and transmit the disease in the community, where vulnerable individuals could become victims. “This will paradoxically increase the burden on hospitals. The reluctance to testing can be overcome to some extent by clear recommendations from the government about why it is important to do so,” he told this paper.
According to officials, some states like Kerala and Andhra Pradesh stopped sharing daily Covid-19 testing figures in their daily medical bulletin last year. Apart from these two states, West Bengal and Bihar stopped publicly sharing how many Covid tests have been conducted since February.
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