State lifts Covid test for patient hospitalisation

The test will be conducted only on patients with symptoms.
Image used for representational purposes only. (Photo | PTI)
Image used for representational purposes only. (Photo | PTI)

BHUBANESWAR: Routine Covid test is no more required prior to inpatient hospitalisation and surgeries in Odisha. The State government has asked the hospitals to discontinue the routine Covid-19 testing before hospitalisation following the sharp fall in new cases.

The direction came after the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) recently revised its guidelines on Covid tests. As per the modified Purposive Testing Strategy for Covid-19, the tests prior to inpatient hospitalisation (regular as well as daycare) and also before any minor or major surgical/interventional/ non-interventional procedures and imaging in clinically asymptomatic patients will not be conducted.

This is also applicable to OPD/emergency patients as well as those patients who were earlier Covid-19 positive and have since recovered and transferred to the parent department’s inpatient ward for continued treatment.

Director of Health Services Dr Bijay Mohapatra said routine Covid testing is no longer required for asymptomatic patients undergoing surgical/non-surgical invasive procedures including pregnant women in/near labour who are hospitalised for delivery unless warranted or symptoms develop.

“As advised by the ICMR, the Covid test will be conducted only on patients with symptoms. The decision has been taken as the surge of Covid-19 cases in the State is showing a sustained declining trend from last more than a week,” he said.

The cases have dropped from a range of 10,000 to 1,200 and the test positivity has declined to 1.8 per cent in the State.

However, there is no let up in Covid fatalities as 22 more patients, including a four-month-old baby succumbed to the disease taking the cumulative death toll to 8,884.

A maximum of eight deaths were reported from Balasore district, followed by four from Sundargarh, three from Ganjam, two from Bhubaneswar and one each from Angul, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Keonjhar and Nabarangpur.

Apart from the infant, 10 among the deceased were without comorbidities. Among the comorbid patients, 10 were suffering from hypertension and most of them were aged 60 years or above.

The fresh cases dropped to 1,148, the lowest in last one and half months. The State had recorded 1,216 cases on January 4. The fresh cases included 244 of the 0-18 years age group. Barring Khurda and Sundargarh, all other districts reported less than 100 cases each.

While Angul had the highest TPR of 6.7 pc, it was below one pc in eight districts. The active cases came down to 10,485 after recovery of 1,845 patients. “The weekly TPR is below 5 pc in half of Odisha which is a positive sign. Districts reporting more than 100 cases have been asked to revisit their containment
measures,” Dr Mohapatra added.

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