Amit Bathla
Tribune News Service
Panchkula, March 14
Even though Covid-19 cases have witnessed a northward trend, the Health Department hasn't been able to ramp up testing to meet the demands of the emerging Covid-19 situation. The limited staff and the ongoing vaccination drive for senior citizens and other eligible citizens have kept the daily sampling under the significant 1,000 mark, the data has suggested.
In the past fortnight (between February 28 and March 14), on an average, only 877 samples were collected daily. The daily sampling has remained under the 500 mark on four occasions during this period. The lowest (235) samples were collected on March 8 and the highest (1,344) on March 6.
Active cases soar
The active caseload also soared from 83 (on Feb 14) to 355 on Sunday. The recovery rate dipped from 97.84% to 95.55% in this period.
Civil Surgeon Dr Jasjeet Kaur said they need to increase testing but limited staff along with the ongoing vaccination drive was a challenge for them. "We will try to add more staff to boost daily sample collection," she said.
On February 24, the Civil Surgeon's office had issued directions to step up preventive measures against the fresh surge of coronavirus cases, including scaling up daily testing. The Health Department has attributed the fresh Covid-19 surge to increasing caseload in neighbouring Mohali and Chandigarh.
"It is part of the second wave being witnessed in other states. It was kind of expected as Panchkula is in close proximity to a state with high caseload," Dr Kaur had told The Tribune.
Focus on stepping up vaccination
On Monday, the vaccination drive will take place at 42 sites in the district (highest so far). The focus is on mobilising poor sections from slum pockets, which are so far deprived of immunisation against coronavirus.
from The Tribune https://ift.tt/3vn37Gf
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