Srinagar: 1.1 lakh tests in 1 week, 5094 positive

In the past one week since the government announced testing for the entire Srinagar population, more than one lakh covid tests have been conducted and 5094 found positive.

OSD Directorate of Health and Medical Education, Dr Qazi Haroon said till 23 September, a week since the testing began, 1,10,000 people were tested in Srinagar. These were mostly from various departments of Government, private organizations and educational institutes, he said.

   

He said 5094 samples among these were found positive for COVID19. The positive percentage in Srinagar, as per

this massive sampling and testing exercise is 4.63.

As part of the universal testing of Srinagar (Phase III), announced by district administration Srinagar on 15 September, the entire population of Srinagar would be covered under Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) for COVID19. This ‘micro-plan’ started on 17 September and is expected to end by 10 October. As per the order, 74 wards of Srinagar will be combed out with RAT, as per the schedule of Srinagar Municipal Commissioner.

However, a health official said that the execution of this plan was expected to take longer than planned. “Although we have ample testing kits and more have been ordered, our human resources are not unlimited,” he said. He said the fact that only a lakh people in Srinagar have been tested in a week was a reflection of “how difficult” the task is. “By this pace, Srinagar will take another 10 weeks at least to get tested in its entirety,” he said.

Dr Haroon however said that 50 teams had been pressed into action and they were on the field every day. “We are utilizing all the manpower that we have at hand and in coming days, the pace will pick-up,” he said.

He said that sans the exercise also, RT-PCR tests were going on in the City and across Kashmir. “RAT helps us expand our ambit but we were anyways testing more than anyone in the country,” he said.

As per data maintained by the health and medical education department, till date, a little over 37000 people from Srinagar have been tested on RT-PCR.

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