Covid scare: 28 teams to conduct 800 tests a day

Aparna Banerji

Jalandhar, December 22

With the fresh surge in Covid cases globally and the Central Minister for Health calling for Covid appropriate behaviour by citizens, the Health And Family Welfare Department has issued fixed sampling targets for all districts to rein in Covid in the region. Health officials in Jalandhar district have been asked to ensure 800 samples per day.

No need to panic

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There is no alert on Covid yet. Since there has been no case in the past 15 days, there is no need to panic. However, the new strains are highly transmissible, everyone is advised to take adequate Covid-related precautions. — Dr Raman Gupta, Family Welfare Officer

Civil Surgeon Dr Raman Sharma held a Covid review and preparedness meeting with offcials today. Each district has been issued an advisory regarding a listed target of testing per day.

The Health Department states that this is being done “keeping in mind the sudden spurt of cases being witnessed in Japan, the United States, Republic of Korea, Brazil and China”.

The daily testing target set for Jalandhar is 800 — 550 RT-PCR and 250 antigen. The Civil Surgeon said 28 rapid response teams should be carrying out Covid tests daily. A back up of 2,000 beds – government and private – is also ready to tackle any eventuality in the district.

It has also been stressed that Covid-related precautions and behaviour can keep the virus at bay.

The preparations and assessment of the Covid scenario in the district come in the wake of the highly transmissible Omicron strains BA.5.2 and BF.7 which Chinese authorities have especially been issuing warnings about.

In Jalandhar, barring October, when a higher number of Covid cases were witnessed, the Covid cases have witnessed a constant decline. Not a single case of Covid has been reported in Jalandhar (and Doaba) in the past 15 days. In December so far, only three cases have been reported; in November, 28 cases came to light. There is no active case at present.

In all, the total confirmed cases in the district are 81,154. The total number of Covid deaths is 1,984.

Civil Surgeon Dr. Raman Sharma said, “Testing will be intensified to keep the virus at bay. Even though there is currently no case in the district, we are keeping an eye on the Covid scenario. The preparedness for beds and oxygen in the district was also reviewed today. We urge people to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour.”