Is Chennai testing adequately for COVID-19? Since COVID-19 cases started to rise in May, the number of day-wise samples tested in the city has turned into a bone of contention. While the Health Department maintains that it was testing adequately in Chennai and has been increasing the number of samples, public health experts are advocating increased testing.
With no daily testing numbers available for the city, there remains a lack of clarity. On May 18, Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar told The Hindu that a total of 84,160 samples were tested in Chennai till May 17. The next update came three weeks later. This time, the Health Department’s official bulletin put the total number of samples tested in Chennai at 1,21,950 as on June 7. More than a week later, on June 15, the Minister told a media briefing that a total of 1,85,000 samples were tested in the city till then.
5,000-5,300 samples a day
So how much is Chennai testing every day? A health official said they were testing around 5,000 to 5,300 samples a day, and were increasing the samples daily.
“So far, a total of 1,98,882 samples have been tested in the city. When we include Wednesday’s samples that would be running, we would have crossed two lakh. There are plans to increase the testing figures in Chennai,” J. Radhakrishnan, Health Secretary, said.
The idea, he said, was to make it organic by using the fever camps to identify persons with fever, cough, respiratory symptoms. “We want to use the fever clinics for alerting persons with co-morbidities and test them apart from the numbers coming out of contact tracing. Instead of a target-based approach, we want to ensure that apart from persons availing tests in private facilities, we use public facilities to ramp it up based on a focussed approach,” he said.
Another official pointed out that in terms of comparison, Chennai’s testing numbers were better than Mumbai and Delhi. “But the tests need to be increased by another 30%,” he added.
Public health experts say the more samples, the better.
“The testing numbers continue to be very low in Chennai. Despite insisting on increasing the testing for the last 45 days, nothing has happened. In April, the testing was adequate for the city but it has not been scaled-up from the start of May to mid-June. Unless infections are detected, it cannot be slowed down,” an epidemiologist said.
If testing was adequately done in the first two weeks of May, the cases would have come down when lockdown restrictions were eased, the expert said adding that 10,000 samples should be tested per day in Chennai.
A senior doctor added that the present testing numbers were not the ideal. “The more the better,” he noted. Another public health expert questioned how increased testing would help when there is rampant spread of COVID-19 in the city. “We have to improve testing of persons with co-morbidities and vulnerable population to prevent deaths,” he said.
