Inconsistent testing may harm Kerala’s Covid battle as unlocking looms

Express News Service
KOCHI: Bringing down the Test Positivity Rate (TPR) is now the highest precedence of the state authorities.

However, because the state is beginning the unlock process step-by-step, the variety of exams being performed has additionally gone down. Experts are of the view that it’s excessive time the state revised its testing technique.

With the third wave of Covid imminent and vaccination drive within the doldrums, isolating and figuring out Covid sufferers needs to be on the precedence listing, they are saying. According to them, extra exams, at the least 2 lakh per day, are known as for.

On Friday, 1,09,520 exams have been performed within the state, of which 34,246 have been RT-PCR and 73,541 have been antigen exams. The state has relied extra on antigen exams reasonably than RT-PCR exams.  

Lack of molecular lab amenities and educated technicians are the 2 major causes cited for the low variety of RT-PCR exams being performed.

States comparable to Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, which have been reporting excessive Covid instances, are nonetheless conducting on a median, 2.5 lakh, 1.8 lakh and 1.6 lakh Covid exams, respectively, every day.

“Testing conducted in the state is much less. Ideally over 2 lakh tests must be conducted to identify and isolate those who tested positive to prevent them from spreading the virus. The main problem with the state’s testing strategy is that it is not consistent in carrying out the tests. Rather than going up, the number of tests keeps coming down,” mentioned Rijo M John, well being economist, Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR).

A revision in testing technique and guaranteeing vaccinations for max variety of the folks earlier than the third wave hits are important to the state within the struggle in opposition to the virus.

The highest variety of Covid exams performed was 1,63,321 on May 5, during which 63715 have been RT-PCR and 97177 have been antigen exams. The quantity had come all the way down to 1,55,632 on May 6, and additional all the way down to 1,44,345 exams on May 7. 

“Compared to the other states, the facilities available in Kerala are limited. It is only last year that we started receiving Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) recognition for molecular labs. Before that, for each outbreak of virus infection, we used to sent the samples to Manipal Virology Institute for tests. Lack of civil infrastructure facilities, equipment and reagents required for the testing, and  unavailability of trained technicians for molecular labs, are main bottlenecks for the state,” mentioned a city-based pulmonologist.

“The reliance on antigen tests has always been a matter of concern, due to doubts regarding its accuracy and consequent chances of missing out on identifying Covid positive samples. We should increase the number of tests or at least maintain consistency in the testing rate. Before the third wave, if we are able to isolate those testing positive — even if by conducting more antigen tests due to the lack of facilities for conducting RT-PCR — it will be a gamechanger for the state in its fight against the pandemic. The ideal strategy the state government should adopt now, is to vaccinate people irrespective of prioritisation. Otherwise, the situation that we will face may be far more grim,” mentioned Gopikumar P, state secretary of IMA.