Odisha needs new testing strategy for COVID-19
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is known to get ahead of the curve. Around this time last year, when the entire nation was weighing the pros and cons of lockdown after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, he was the first to announce its imposition in the state, much before even the Union government could make up its mind. His administration went on to establish dedicated hospitals in record time, built the health infrastructure, handed over authority to panchayati raj institutions and made use of IT to guide its decision-making. In doing so, the state created benchmarks in tackling the scourge of an unknown virus that had even the most developed nations of the world in a bind. On Sunday, when Naveen addressed the people of Odisha and made a fervent pitch to not lower their guard against coronavirus, he was again taking the lead. His address came on the eve of one year of the first Covid case detection in the state.
The Odisha chief minister has mastered the art of tackling disasters and his appeal shows a deeper understanding of crises because going back to lockdowns—or even a Maharashtra-like scenario—is far from ideal. On the contrary, Naveen has set his sights on a zero-Covid scenario for which he sought increased cooperation of people in adhering to safety protocols. To achieve that, it would be necessary for the state to take a fresh view of its testing and surveillance strategies. Despite not being high-risk, Odisha has found mention by the Centre for its low RT-PCR tests. Currently, it conducts daily tests in the range of about 20,000 and a bulk of it is antigen testing, which makes very little sense. The state’s Health Department has cried itself hoarse to raise the testing numbers but in vain. Besides, there is very little surveillance by districts on inward flow of people from the five states that were marked out by the Centre recently for a spurt in Covid cases. While resurgence of the virus has been alarming in many states, Odisha currently reports just about 60-odd cases a day. It is also because the Naveen administration had adopted a cautious approach without rushing into unlocks when other states were in a hurry to open up to put the economy back on track. Having come thus far in the Covid battle, it would be unwise to squander the gains.