Two new COVID-19 positive cases were reported from the Kurnool district taking the total number to 84. The district administration with a view to ramp up the testing operationalised a laboratory for testing antibodies count in blood samples at the Government General Hospital (GGH) here on on Sunday.
District Collector G. Veerapandian said while one of the two new cases was from Kurnool city, the other came from Chagalamarri. The testing machine has a capacity of 100 samples per hour and it was delivered last night from Chennai. The District Collector visited the laboratory and understood the procedure.
Training is being given to medical and paramedical staff on collection of samples and sending them to the laboratory. Once a person is afflicted by COVID-9, the human body will produce antibodies in large numbers to fight the virus, if the antibodies count was high, the throat swab is taken and sent for COVID-19 test at a venereal disease research (VDRL) laboratory for confirmation, Mr. Veerapandian added.
“Our target now is to test at least 1,000 samples a day to ensure a large number of primary and secondary contacts of the persons testing positive could be traced, tested in high-risk zones and put in quarantine at the earliest,” he observed.
