BHOPAL: Less than six months after chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had ordered that at least 80,000 Covid tests should be done every day across Madhya Pradesh, not more than 35,000 tests are being done in the state now.
Amid concerns of the poor pace of vaccination drive in the state, the drop in Covid-19 tests by half in the state has surprised health experts. The drop in sampling has been gradual as it has reduced month-onmonth since July. In the past two days (November 5 and 6), less than 35,000 samples were tested.
So far in the month of November, only 2,57,535 tests for for Covid-19 have been done in Madhya Pradesh. Simply put, the state has conducted only 42,922 tests per day. In October, the numbers were as high as 17,39,580 tests or 56,115 tests per day.
Current testing is far below the average number of tests that were to be done in the state everyday. The sampling and testing for Covid-19 has declined on a month-on-month basis in the state.
In September, 19,67,378 tests were done, which was equivalent to 65,579 tests per day. In August, it rose marginally to 21,59,911 tests which was equivalent to 69,674 tests per day.
Sources said that if seven people were found positive when 31,179 tests were done on November 6, numerically seeing, the figure of new cases may be actually 20 if 70,000 tests were done. Reducing tests at a time when attaining full vaccination by the year-end seems difficult with every passing day, may lead to slow identification of positive cases. It may result in in late isolation and hence the chances of the spread of the disease cannot be ruled out, experts warned.
