With Tamil Nadu placing an order for one lakh rapid test kits, Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar said that antibody tests would be carried out among secondary contacts of persons who have tested positive for COVID-19, in containment zones, and this would indicate if there was community transmission.
“We will be scaling up the number of rapid test kits. As of now, we have had primary contacts of patients testing positive for COVID-19. We are seeing that there has been no transmission beyond the families of patients, and so, our containment activities have helped. Now the rapid tests will indicate if anyone in the zone has been exposed to the virus recently, or even exposed previously,” he said.
For them, testing of samples using the RT-PCR will be done if necessary, he added. A month after the State reported its first COVID-19 case on March 7, the State will now focus on doing antibody-based testing on a full-fledged basis. “It will indicate if there has been community transmission of COVID-19,” he said.
From 60 samples till March 7, the number of samples tested so far has reached 6,095. There are a total of 19 testing facilities — 12 in the government sector and seven private laboratories. “We have obtained RT-PCR machines, and the re-agents are getting readied. Soon, we will have one testing facility in every district. Currently, work for standardisation is under way,” he said.
Presently, the number of beds in isolation facilities are a little over 22,000. The Minister said that the number of beds are being scaled up, with facilities being readied in a number of private medical college hospitals. “Instead of starting new hospitals for COVID-19, we are scaling up facilities in the existing hospitals. We have around 3,300 ventilators and we have placed orders for 2,500 more. We have anaesthesia workstations which could be converted in case of an emergency,” he said.
With the State reporting eight deaths so far, he said that the mortality rate was about 1%, and a majority of the deceased were aged above 50. Except for one or two patients, the others had co-morbid conditions, the Minister added.
Four doctors have tested positive for COVID-19 in the State so far, Health Secretary Beela Rajesh said.
A total of 1,953 persons were admitted to isolation facilities in hospitals across the State. She said that though none of the patients, who tested positive for COVID-19, required critical care, five of them were unwell with symptoms.
As on date, 60,739 persons are under home quarantine.
A total of 34 districts have reported COVID-19 cases. Chennai continues to have the most number of COVID-19 cases. With seven more testing positive on Wednesday, the total number of cases in the city has increased to 156.
Coimbatore, with 60 cases, stood second in the list, while Dindigul had 46 cases and Tirunelveli 40. The number of cases in Theni increased from 23 to 39, with 16 fresh cases being reported.
A booth for drawing samples from persons for COVID-19 testing was set up at the Government Stanley Medical College Hospital. In this, a healthcare provider would stay inside the booth and draw samples from persons.
