Andhra Pradesh government to ramp up tests to check extent of coronavirus spread
VIJAYAWADA: Going by the principle ‘More tests will reveal more cases’, the State government has decided to ramp up COVID-19 testing to accurately ascertain the spread of the virus. Disclosing this to the media here on Thursday, Special Chief Secretary (Health) KS Jawahar Reddy said increased testing would help clearly demarcate red, orange and green zones by the time the lockdown is lifted on May 3, so appropriate measures can be taken in each place.
Stating that the Centre announced 11 of 13 districts in the State of having high incidence of COVID-19 cases, Jawahar Reddy said out of 676 mandals, 94 have reported all 503 cases till Wednesday and among them, 46 are urban mandals and 48 are rural mandals.
“All the 154 containment zones are in those 94 mandals. Today (Thursday), another 32 cases have been reported and it has to be seen if they are from these clusters or some other places,” he said and added they will determine the same in a day or two. Elaborating on the need of aggressive testing as was being done in South Korea and Japan, the official said to determine the extent of the virus spread, they have to conduct more tests, so by the time national-level lockdown is lifted by May 3, the State will be in a position to assess if the lockdown needs to be continued to contain the virus spread. “If we do not assess the situation by conducting more tests, the virus may spread silently,” he said.
According to him, in the next one week, 17,000 tests per day will be conducted so as to determine, which areas can be exempted from the lockdown after April 20 as per the Central government directions. However, he clarified that red zones will not be given any exemption. The Health Secretary said the State was enhancing its testing capacity and has come to a long way from 90 samples per day capacity on February 15 to 3,000 samples per day now and it will be enhanced further.
On April 7, the number of samples tested stood at 3,930, which is 78.6 per million. Today, it is 16,555 and the number of tests per million is 331. “It is more than the national average of 198 per million people and the State is among the first five states in testing more people per million. “In Rajasthan, it is 549 per million, Kerala 485 per million, Maharashtra 420 per million, Gujarat and AP 331 per million and Tamil Naidu 223 tests per million,” he explained. In addition to the existing seven Virology Research and Diagnosis Laboratories (VRDLs), two more labs — one at SV Medical College in Tirupati and another at Kurnool Medical College in Kurnool — are being set up. Permission for SVMC has been obtained while the same for KMC is awaited.
Truenat test kits were proposed to be used for conducting more tests, but with short supply, only 18,000 Truenat test kits are available in the state now. “We have placed an order for 1 lakh Truenat test kits, but there is short supply for the same around the world,” the Health Secretary explained. According to him, as many as 32,700 people with COVID-19 symptoms were identified during the symptomatic survey conducted for the third time and COVID-19 tests are being conducted for all. The information of sample collection, tracking and test results have been made online.
Apart from four state-level critical care hospitals and 13 district COVID-19 hospitals, 460 quarantine centres have been turned into makeshift hospitals and named COVID care centres, where those with mild symptoms and those who are not able to be in house isolation, can be kept and monitored. Stating telemedicine will act as OP consultation for non-COVID patients, he said to keep track of those undergoing treatment for COVID, Patient Management Protocol has been formulated and an eight -member critical care doctors team at Control Room will monitor them round the clock. The State has enough stocks of N-19 and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits and oxygen supply for even non-ICU patienst is being planned. He said `500 per day is being spent on those quarantined and only when they tested negative twice, they are being released.
Pooled sample testing
AP is now going for pooled sample testing. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has given nod for the pooled sample testing in low intensive areas. Five samples will be combined and tested and if the sample tested negative, five will be determined to have tested negative. If the sample tests positive, samples of all the five would be tested to determine the confirmed case