Assam has surpassed Kerala in screening for coronavirus infections.
Guwahati:
With more than 1 lakh test, Assam has surpassed Kerala in screening for coronavirus infections, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said today.
Of the total of 1 lakh tests, approximately 70,000 have been performed in the past 20 days at the seven state testing laboratories.
The state now plans to perform 10,000 tests a day and more than 2 lakh tests in a month, added the minister.
Assam ranks 14th in terms of sample tests with 1,044,083 COVID-19 tests performed so far, surpassing Kerala (77,257 tests), Punjab (84,497 tests) and Bihar (73,929 tests) ).
“This is a major achievement for this state which initially sent its samples to the NIV (National Virology Institute) in Pune. Over 70,000 of these tests were carried out in May,” said Sarma.
Of the total tests, 4,033 tests were outsourced by the health department, while the rest were tested in state laboratories – in Jorhat (12,732 samples), Silchar (9,111 samples), Gauhati (22,000 samples) ), Dibrugarh (5100 samples), Barpeta (22000 samples), Tezpur (12 450 samples) and Dibrugarh (12 905 samples).
“The CRRM has also tested samples from other northeastern states that have not been added to the list,” said Mr. Sarma.
The government also plans to add 2 to 3 Covid-19 laboratories to its current capacity.
So far, only eight states with more than 2,000 COVID-positive cases have been able to cross the two lakh mark.
“Kerala has been known for its medical infrastructure for 60 years. We are continuing to grow. For a Northeast state, this is a good start,” added Sarma.
The state also plans to reduce the mandatory institutional quarantine to four days from mid-June, he said.
The minister added that the state will attempt to provide COVID-19 reports in 72 hours of testing.
“We will try to deliver the COVID tests within 72 hours of taking the samples. People will receive their test report within three to four days and send it to quarantine at home if they are negative and the hospital will they are positive. This will help save public money since we made institutional quarantine mandatory for all who return to Assam and in doing so we have been able to avoid community transmission, “said Mr. Sarma .
