Assam to ramp up Covid tests

GUWAHATI: In the wake of fresh Covid-19 cases in the country, Assam will double the number of tests from next week, while the new daily vaccination target will be 1 lakh.

At present, less than 20,000 Covid tests are being done daily in Assam. The number of average vaccination targets achieved has been 15,000 a day. A mega vaccination campaign has now been planned across the state on March 23, where 1.5 lakh people are likely to be inoculated on a single day through around 2,000 session sites.

“From next week, we have decided to increase the number of daily tests to 40,000. Simultaneously, a target has been set to achieve one lakh vaccination target daily,” National Health Mission, Assam, director, Lakshmanan S, said on Thursday.

The video conference on Wednesday chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sent a cautious note to election-bound Assam. Officials in the state health department said that a fresh SOP will come out soon, to gear up testing and streamlining other modalities. The possibility of Covid infection persists in Assam as some of the airports have discontinued mandatory testing and checks have gone for a toss in some of the biggest railway stations.

“All airports, major railway stations are likely to have mandatory screening of those passengers without a valid Covid negative report. Infection through air passengers cannot be ruled out, as some of the airports in Assam only test symptomatic patients,” said a source in the health department.

After conducting 13,204 Covid tests, only 33 new cases were detected in the state on Wednesday. While the latest positivity rate has been as low as 0.25%, the number of active cases has been confined to 280.

But such encouraging figures may not be an excuse for a lackadaisical approach to the Covid situation, which has deteriorated in some states.

Lakshmanan said in the district level hospitals, Covid tests will be intensified, while the medical staff will be reoriented to take up the challenge of the fresh Covid-19 threat the country is facing.

“Air travel rules should be made more strict or some of the passengers may arrive with infection from other states and spread the disease,” said an Airports Authority of India (AAI) official.

Silchar and Lilabari airports in Assam and Agartala airport in Tripura had withdrawn mandatory testing orders in February. These airports have direct air connectivity with some of the important cities outside of the northeast.