Less number of Covid-19 cases in Punjab does not mean the state has battled against the contagious disease and is on the path of recovery. Ahead of the festive season, Punjabis will have to be more cautious to protect themselves against infection as the government has reduced the number of testing.
Reportedly, in the last ten days, the testing rate has sharply declined. Earlier, till the first half of October, the state's daily testing capacity had breached 30,000 mark on several days.
Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain reaction (RT-PCR) is the testing method that has been adopted by Punjab. According to health experts, this test is one of the most significant factors in containing the spread of the virus as it identifies people at an early stage and directs to isolate them.
Divulging the details, a total of 458,714 tests were conducted from October 1-17 which indicates that 26,983 tests were conducted in a day. Nonetheless, after this, the test rate sharply dipped to 21,453 from October 18-26 which means an average testing rate came down to 21,453. During the said period, a total of 193,079 individuals were tested for the virus.
Worth mentioning, on October 26 the state recorded its lowest number of tests since August 24 i.e. 15,038.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the Punjab government has been making endeavors to increase contact tracing and testing, hence, has been able to do so. Despite that, the state is still lagging behind many states.
Reiterating the fact, this lower testing capacity has pushed Punjab into the list of worst-hit states by Covid and now, it has been overtaken by Jharkhand and Bihar in testing.
Till October 10, Punjab was ranked at 10th spot in the testing capacity but apparently, it slipped two spots. Now, it ranks 12th on the list of 20 most affected states with a testing rate of 82,605 tests per million against the national average of 76,810.
n the testing capacity, Delhi leads the race with 218,220 tests per million, followed by Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka Odisha, Uttrakhand, Haryana, Gujarat, Jharkhand, and Bihar.
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When asked about the decline in testing capacity, Punjab Covid 19 spokesperson Dr. Rajesh Bhaskar said due to prolonged working hours, few team members have been given the much-needed break amidst the festive season.
"Team deployed in the collection of samples were working without a break for a long time. Some of them were given a much-needed break during this period," Dr. Bhasker said.
Though, he assured that testing will again pick pace when the teams will resume their job.
The pertinent question which arises here is how health authorities can bring laxity in their duties?
We all are entering the festival season amid this pandemic and health should be on the priority list of each individual as well as health authorities. With a dip in the number of testing, events of super-spreading might appear. And if this happens, the government will not be in a condition to curb the cases and the fatality rate.
According to the reports, five states of India which earlier showed a dip in the number of cases have again reported the highest single-day spike as people were not paying heed to the Covid-19 protocols. These states where the Covid-19 situation has worsened amid the ongoing festivals are Maharashtra, West Bengal, Karnataka, Kerala, and Delhi.
These states/Union Territories have accounted for 58 percent of the fatalities occurring due to Covid-19 in the country in 24 hours between 8 a.m. on Monday to 8 a.m. on Tuesday.