Fearing community transmission, Punjab scales up testing for coronavirus

Karam Prakash

Tribune News Service

Patiala, March 21

Fearing community transmission of coronavirus, the state health department has already scaled up testing to ensure containment of the virus.

Over the past three days, the health department tested 43 people in the state, thereby taking the number of tested patients from 115 to 158, on Friday. The move has come after the dera man in Banga village of Jalandhar district, who had contacted hundreds of people before he died, came to light. The incident has already made the health department go into a tizzy.

In a rapid response, the health department changed the strategy from testing only symptomatic patients to testing all close contacts of a positive patient.

Earlier, the health department was testing only those suspected patients which were showing symptoms of COVID -19. However, it involved high risk of community transmission. Reason: In many cases, coronavirus can be asymptomatic.

Experts say the virus may have entered your body but you do not show any symptoms at all. Unaware, one has coronavirus, the suspected patient goes around spreading it. Experts insist that to contain the spread of coronavirus, testing of asymptomatic patients is a must.

Stage of community transmission not yet

When asked about the potential community transmission after the Jalandhar incident, Dr Gagan Grover, state nodal officer, coronavirus programme, denied the situation of community transmission given the fact that test results of the close contacts of the Jalandhar man were awaited. However, he said testing had already been scaled up in the state.

“The reports of close contacts of the Jalandhar man are awaited; therefore, can’t comment on community transmission. However, the positive cases have travel history to affected areas,” Dr Grover said.