Puducherry will soon scale up COVID-19 tests to 1,000 per day in a bid to contain the growing number of cases in the Union Territory, Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy said here on Thursday.
In an audio message to the media, the Chief Minister said taking into account the spike in number of cases, the government had decided to test more. The government had scaled up testing from 220 per day to 448 persons per day now. In the coming days, the government plans to test at least 1,000 people per day.
For this, the government would use rapid antibody-based blood test that was recently cleared by the Indian Council of Medical Research. The RT-PCR tests would be undertaken simultaneously, he said.
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Kunichampet village, which reported 70 COVID-19 cases, had become a hotspot due to the negligence of a mask manufacturing unit functioning there, he said.
Tests would be intensified in the village, the Chief Minister said adding he had directed the District Collector to initiate criminal proceedings against the factory owner.
Seeking cooperation of the public in containing the spread, the Chief Minister said he had received information that people were still coming out unnecessarily even after the government imposed restrictions on shop timings.
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Law enforcement agencies have been asked to penalise those floating guidelines to contain the spread of virus, the Chief Minister said.