In the battle against COVID 19, testing seems to play a pivotal role in controlling the spread of the virus. The lockdowns and social distancing measures definitely count as important prevention strategies but testing still tops the list. “We have a simple message for all countries: test, test, test. Test every suspected case. If they test positive, isolate them and find out who they have been in close contact with up to 2 days before they developed symptoms, and test those people too”, says Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO.
According to data released by Indian Council of Medical Research, 1,61,330 samples have been tested as on 10th April. However, the number of tests conducted will not suffice and has to be increased extensively. When the data is put into perspective based on the number of tests done per million population, India has carried out 93 tests per million population and reported only three cases as per the figures quoted by Business Today on Monday.
There is a cloud of uncertainty around India’s situation in terms of community transmission of the virus. The government vehemently continues to state that India has not entered that stage yet. “There is no community transmission in India and there is no need to panic," Lav Agarwal, joint secretary of health ministry told to Livemint today. However, a report on random sampling of tests conducted by ICMR indicated that 1.8 percent of the samples tested positive for the virus and there is a possibility of community transmission happening in clusters of India.
Some of the countries have efficiently increased the number of corona virus tests in an attempt to flatten the curve. China, being the origin region is ahead of other countries in terms of testing. It had conducted over 320,000 tests by the end of march. Germany could not only foresee the coming of a global pandemic but also began equipping itself to tackle the situation by preparing test kits well in advance.
The Indian government is now bracing itself to increase testing for corona virus. Private and public sector companies are queued up to manufacture rapid testing kits. ICMR released detailed guidelines for tests last Sunday. The council has also issued tender for the procurement of 5 lakh antibody test kits. State governments like the Odisha and Tamil Nadu government are setting the right trend by procuring rapid testing kits to commence testing at a community level and prevent the virus from entering the third stage of transmission.
