The Uttar Pradesh government has indicated it will expand the spread of testing for COVID-19 in the State, though in small numbers.
U.P. Health Principal Secretary Amit Mohan Prasad has said the surveillance process has started in those districts that have not recorded any cases yet.
Till Friday evening, 24 out of 75 districts in the State had reported positive cases, as per the U.P. Directorate of Health Services. With 47 cases across 14 districts linked to the members of the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi, the State’s overall figure stood at 174 on Friday evening.
Mr. Mohan said districts where there had not been enough testing had been directed to test at least four samples of cold, cough, fever and pneumonia cases daily. This would be done across the State, he said.
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“At this stage, getting people tested as much as possible and as soon as the results come, carrying out immediate aggressive containment and isolation exercise and put them under facility quarantine are the most important tasks,” Mr. Prasad said.
The State currently has eight laboratories testing for COVID-19 with a ninth one in Jhansi waiting for approval.
Mr. Prasad also said that U.P. was going to use Rapid Testing Kits for surveillance soon.
Each district in U.P. had a dedicated level-1 COVID-19 hospital operating, while three level-3 COVID-19 hospitals were notified and six level-2 COVID-19 hospitals were to be notified, said the official.
U.P. has so far tested 4,006 samples for COVID-19 and put 3,029 persons under institutional quarantine, as per official data.
