BHUBANESWAR: As COVID cases have begun to surge, the Government on Monday decided to scale up testing facilities on a war footing to enable maximum testing of suspects and contacts of positive patients as well as strengthening random surveillance.Reviewing the situation with the State COVID-19 team through video-c0nferencing, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik directed the officials to increase testing capacity to at least 1,000 per day by April 10. At present, 300 samples are being tested at three centres every day.
T
he low testing level has raised concern of not detecting the extent of virus transmission and properly identifying hotspots as only around 2,000 samples have been tested in Odisha till date while States like Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka and Rajasthan have gone much beyond 10,000.As of now, testing facilities are available at Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC) and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), both at Bhubaneswar, and SCB Medical College and Hospital at Cuttack. Naveen also directed officials to expedite the process of developing testing facilities at MKCG Medical College and Hospital, Berhampur and VIMSAR, Burla at the earliest.
“The CM has directed to increase number of tests to 1,000 a day in next five days and keep VIMSAR and MKCGMCH ready with such facilities,” said chief spokesperson on COVID-19 Subroto Bagchi.To make the medical teams appropriately equipped for fighting menace effectively, Naveen emphasised the need to make available sufficient number of personal protective equipment (PPEs) for medical professionals. The CM also reviewed opening of new COVID hospitals in different parts of the State and asked officials to develop at least 3,000-bed capacity by April 15.
In view of the fall out of Nizamuddin Markaz event at New Delhi that has led to a steep increase in cases across the country, Naveen directed the officials to pay special attention to it but warned against communalisation of the incident. He directed police to be vigilant and take stringent action against those trying to communalise the situation. He also warned that there will be zero tolerance towards mischief mongers and asked police to ensure social harmony.
The meeting was attended by Chief Advisor to Chief Minister R Balakrishnan, Chief Secretary Asit Kumar Tripathy, Development Commissioner Suresh Mohapatra, Director General of Police Abhay and senior officials.