SAMBALPUR: Two new swab collection centres have been made operational at Kuchinda and Rairakhol sub-divisions in the district to increase the volume of sample collection for testing.Earlier, around 50-60 samples were collected daily at the lone centre at Chaunpur in the city. All the suspected coronavirus cases or migrant workers returning to the district were brought to the Chaunpur centre by ambulances for sample collection.
As the number of returnees have started increasing, health officials have targeted to collect at least 100 swab samples every day. Additional District Medical Officer Ashok Das said earlier, collecting samples was a time-taking process as people had to come to Chaunpur from different sub-divisions of the district. Since two more centres have been opened, sample collection has become easy.
Currently, four dedicated medical teams have been formed in the district of which two are engaged in collecting swab samples from these two centres.The period for collecting samples from a returnee ranges between five and 14 days. The health team monitors the status of returnees and once a certain number of people register themselves, its members visit the centre and collect the samples. However, in case of a symptomatic patient, the case is considered an emergency and the patient is brought to the collection centre immediately.
All the samples collected from the centres are sent to the Covid-19 testing lab at Veer Surendra Sai Insitute of Medical Sciences And Research (VIMSAR), Burla. However, the reports are first sent to Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC), Bhubaneswar and after verification, these are forwarded to the district health administration.