In the week that ended on June 27, the health department of Uttarakhand tested more than 10,000 samples for Covid-19.
The data of the state health department suggests that a total of 10,277 tests were done in the week starting from June 21 to June 27 in different labs which is the highest ever in a week.
Health expert and noted social activist Anoop Nautiyal said that a total of 15 weeks have elapsed since the first case of the novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) was reported in the state on March 15. He said testing in week 15 saw a big push as it went up by 17 percent over the week 14 in Uttarakhand. Nautiyal said that an increase in testing rate is a good sign and expressed hope that the momentum continues.
The data released by Nautiyal’s Social Development for Communities Foundation shows that 110 tests were conducted in the first week (March 15 to March 21) which gradually increased.
In second week 258 samples were tested while 378 (week 3), 629 (week 4), 1377 (Week 5), 1719 (Week 6), 2374 (Week 7), 1881 (Week 8), 2355 (Week 9), 4920 (Week 10), 6269 (Week 11), 7205 (Week 12), 9144 (Week 13) and 8813 samples were tested in Week 14.
The health department now had a capacity to test more than 1000 samples daily. In Uttarakhand there are five labs in the government sector where swab samples of the suspected patients are tested for Covid-19.
These labs are at Government Medical College Haldwani, Government Doon Medical College (GDMC) Dehradun, Medical College Srinagar, All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) Rishikesh and Indian Institute of Petroleum (IIP), Dehradun. Apart from them one private lab in Dehradun is also authorised by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to conduct tests.
The department is also sending samples to Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTech) Chandigarh. Apart from further increasing the existing capacity of the labs, the state government is also planning to start TrueNat sample testing facility in some districts.