Random test
ple who showed symptoms similar to that brought on by Covid-19.
About 20 samples have been taken from each of the laboratories and the results could take at least a week or so. There are concerns over tests results taking too long, which come in the backdrop of impressive measures, including drive-through testing centres in other parts of the world. While the total Covid-19 testing capacity in India currently is 100,000 samples, only about 6,500 samples were tested until Saturday.
“The second batch of random samples was taken today as planned. The samples that have been taken this time are from patients who reported to a hospital with symptoms of severe acute respiratory infections (SARI), which is what patients affected with Covid-19 also experience,” a senior ICMR official said on anonymity.
Several countries across the world, including the US, have been criticised for testing only the most severe cases, calling it a “disastrous” decision on public health. In India, experts say that if more stringent measures including a pre-emptive lockdown and random testing are not carried out at an adequate scale, the goal of an early containment of the disease could soon be out of reach.
With the government’s health care system overstretched, calls for an increased role of the private sector in testing and treating the disease have also been growing.
WHO’s guidelines define SARI as an acute respiratory infection with history of fever or measured fever of ≥ 38 C°; cough; onset within the last 10 days; and need for hospitalisation.
The ICMR-Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratories (VRDLs) that are being utilised for the purpose are a network of 106 centres across India that conduct advanced research on illnesses arising from viruses. The National Institute of Virology in Pune, one of the advanced virology research laboratories in the world, is the nodal lab to oversee the research work.
The first batch of testing was done with samples lifted between February 15 and 29 from 13 VRDLs, and tested for Covid-19 at NIV, Pune.
Dr Lalit Kant, senior expert in infectious diseases, said: “Since we are not into aggressive testing yet, lifting of random samples from its flu-like illness surveillance network is a good way to check community transmission.”
Dr Nivedita Gupta, scientist, ICMR, said during a press conference: “So far, none of the samples have returned positive, suggesting no community transmission of Covid-19. Our research labs are keeping an eye, since we can’t test everyone, we are lifting a select number of random samples that are doing surveillance work on influenza-like illnesses.”