Indore
The state government has made RTPCR test compulsory for the passengers coming from Maharashtra by flight, but there is no monitoring for those coming in buses and trains.
Over 50 buses ply everyday between Indore and districts of Maharashtra and 1,500 to 2,000 passengers coming to Indore. Similarly, thousands of people are travelling in Avantika Express and from the train to Pune.
“As per the guidelines, we have made RTPCR mandatory for those coming through airports. Those coming by road and buses should go through thermal screening at the state borders,” Chief Medical and Health Officer Dr Pravin Jadia said adding “We don’t have any guidelines for monitoring all those coming from Maharashtra and will seek guidance from senior officials in Bhopal for the same.”
GENOME SEQUENCING REPORT PENDING
While the cases of Covid-19 are increasing swiftly, the administration and health officials still are in the dark about the prevalence of the UK strain among those infected because the 203 samples sent toNational Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), New Delhi for genome sequencing are still pending.
Sample reports of 99 samples (the first lot) out of total 203 samples are pending for over 12 days!
Dean of Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College Dr Sanjay Dixit said, “We sent 99 samples earlier and 104 samples about two days ago. We are waiting for the reports and believe that we will receive them in a day or two.”
Earlier, six people tested positive for UK strain of Covid-19 but none of them had any international travel history. Department officials have kept them in home isolation and also took samples of their close contacts and fortunately, all were found negative.
SCARCITY OF RAT KITS
Health department is continuously facing the scarcity of RAT kits due to which the number of sampling is also decreased. Department is facing scarcity for two months and asked officials multiple times but to no avail.
“Yes, sampling for Covid-19 has been decreased in the city due to scarcity of testing kits of Rapid Antigen Test. We could collect only 185 RAT samples on Tuesday and the total number of samples collected was 3300,” Covid nodal officer Dr Amit Malakar said.
He added that they didn’t receive an ample number of RAT kits from the state and have sent the requirement to the officials for the same.
“We believe that we will soon get the kits and increase the testing. However, we will increase the samples for the RT-PCR test meanwhile,” Dr Malakar added.
