Kerala to scale up Covid antibody tests

Kerala has decided that people under surveillance will have to complete home/institutional quarantine period even if their

Covid–19 antibody tests are found negative. The number of people under surveillance is inching towards the 2 lakh mark in the state.

At present 1.97 lakh persons are under surveillance of which

1.95 lakh are under home/institutional quarantine while

1,771 in hospitals. The authorities are keeping a close watch on the people under surveillance including home and room quarantine.

As per the instructions of the health minister, those under surveillance even if their samples are tested negative, will have to complete their quarantine period. In other words, people testing negative would not be released from at once. This is being done as a precautionary measure in the wake of the tests results turning out inaccurate in some cases.

The minister’s statement comes close on the heels of the state government’s decision to scale up antibody tests in the wake of a significant spike in Covid-19 cases in the state and the fear of community spread.

The state has already received 14,000 through ICMR of which 10,000 have been distributed to different districts.

Around 40,000 more kits are expected to reach the state this week. So far 85, 676 samples have been sent for testing from the state of which 82,362 have been found negative.

Apart from this, the state has also tested

22,357 samples taken from the priority groups like health workers, guest workers and social contacts in vulnerable areas.

The government is aware of the fact that Kerala has not done enough testing yet. For a state which has a population of 3.3 cr and lakhs of expatriates, the number of testing has to be increased considerably.

Meanwhile, the government is making efforts to contain Covid19 in areas which have reported more cases recently and the districts which have received a high number of people from outside the country and other states.