The number of daily tests for COVID-19 will be increased in Tamil Nadu, with specific focus on clusters where several cases have been reported and places where people gather in large numbers.
Over the past several weeks, the State, on average, has been conducting one lakh tests a day. As of date, the overall positivity rate stands at 0.7%, with daily cases dropping below 700 two days ago.
The Health Department has instructed officials to increase the number of tests performed every day. Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan, in a letter to Collectors and the Greater Chennai Corporation, said that routine COVID-19 surveillance should be strengthened by increasing the number of tests conducted every day in the State.
“As a thumb rule, we test 10 times the number of cases. We are way above that now, but are still looking to increase focused testing in case of clusters,” Mr. Radhakrishnan said in the letter.
“This will be done by going for saturation testing, rather than testing those living with patients or those who have been in contact with them,” he said.
For instance, taking up saturation testing, all 763 students of Anna University’s ACTECH campus hostel were subjected to RT-PCR tests, after 10 students tested positive.
The Greater Chennai Corporation plans to increase the number of daily tests to 15,000. At present, an average of 12,000 to 13,000 tests are being conducted in the city in a day. Specific focus will be given to market places, government offices, factories, places where people gather and college hostels and campuses, an official said.
