Central team wants gaps plugged to boost testing

Naina Mishra
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, September 15

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A team appointed by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has made some key observations and recommendations for the city after analysing its current testing strategy and contact tracing.

The team highlighted problems in testing in Chandigarh, particularly in south zone, as the area has the maximum cases and containment zones. To address the issues, the GMCH, Sector 32, has been asked to increase its testing capacity.

The team visited the government hospitals in the city. It found that testing at the PGI had resulted in mingling of positive and negative cases in the Emergency. The team said rapid antigen testing should be conducted in the Emergency too.

It also pointed out that the testing of symptomatic contacts needed to be done immediately.

On home isolation, the team suggested that the families of all positive cases should be contacted by doctors within 24 hours to segregate the patients from their family members.

Recently, the test figures of the UT had increased manifold, taking its tests per million figures among the top five states. The team said the test results of all persons getting tested should be communicated in a time-bound manner.

Single team for contact tracing

The team found duplication of work in contact tracing by the UT Health Department and the Municipal Corporation. It suggested that there should be one contact-tracing team for every 20 to 25 active cases.

Be ready for surge, PGI, GMCH told

The Central team said the GMCH and the PGI should be prepared to handle a surge in cases by increasing the number of beds. It stressed the need for better coordination among the three main government hospitals in the city.

Focus on other critical cases too: Centre to UT

The Centre on Tuesday directed the UT Administration to also focus on non-Covid critical patients. During a videoconference, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla asked senior UT officials to step up efforts to keep the Covid mortality rate low.