The State government has decided to stop rapid antigen tests for COVID-19 in private laboratories as the coverage of the population with the first dose of vaccine has neared 90%, it was decided at the COVID review meeting here on Saturday.
Antigen tests will henceforth be performed only for emergencies in private/public sector hospitals, only at the discretion of a doctor.
The meeting also decided to conduct a special drive to scout for people above 65 years who have not yet been vaccinated in the State and to administer the vaccine to them.
Public awareness campaigns on the importance of COVID-19 vaccination will also be taken up as the majority of deaths due to COVID-19 is being reported in those who are unvaccinated.
It was also decided at the meeting that the Weekly Infection Prevention Ratio (WIPR) cut-off would be fixed at 10 and wards where the WIPR goes above 10 will be locked down. Earlier, WIPR cut-off had been 8.
Contact list
At the review, the Chief Minister directed that the contact list of every positive case detected in districts be expanded to at least three or four times the current number and that the neighbourhood committees and rapid response teams be utilised to ensure that quarantine was being maintained strictly.