Increased testing, bringing down fatality focus areas for NCR states

Haryana government officials on Monday said they have been following national capital Delhi’s example in trying to contain the Covid-19 pandemic and have majorly ramped up overall testing of cases while bringing down the fatality rate in Covid affected cities, like Gurugram.

The announcement comes two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi appreciated Delhi’s efforts in containing the Covid-19 outbreak and directed the National Capital Region (NCR) to adopt similar strategies.

“We are following Delhi’s example here. We are testing more than Noida and Ghaziabad. The second round of serological survey is in progress. Antigen tests are being extensively done in large outbreak areas to break the chain of transmission,” said Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer.

Delhi has adopted a series of measures like increased testing, strict enforcement of rules in containment zones and serological surveys to analyse the prevalence of infection.

Earlier this month, Union home minister Amit Shah held a series of meetings with officials of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh giving a mandate to consider Delhi -NCR as one unit to cope with the Covid-19 public health emergency.

In Gurugram too, since June 24, testing has been ramped up manifold. From conducting 1,000 tests on an average, the health department is now conducting 2,500-3000 tests daily. Till date, 55,714 tests have been conducted in the city.

Amit Khatri, deputy commissioner, on July 4 had said that Gurugram was conducting the highest number of tests among all the cities falling under the NCR. “A vigorous campaign is being run to identify persons infected with coronavirus. And we are testing higher than any other city in the NCR,” said Khatri, while addressing the press meet.

In June, the test positivity rate of Gurugram was more than 40%. It had come down to 11% in July. On Monday 106 new cases were detected, taking the total tally of cases to 6,966. Out of this, at least 1,051 are active cases, while 5,808 have recovered. With two new deaths, the Covid-19 toll has reached 107, under which 70 deaths were due to co-morbid conditions.

A senior Haryana government official, privy to the matter, said, “The state is sending daily updates of Covid-19 affected districts adjoining national capital – Gurugram, Faridabad, Sonepat – to the Central government for review. Daily occupancy of hospital beds, number of tests, deaths and positivity rate is being provided to the central team on a regular basis.”

According to the official, Haryana has been doing well in controlling the Covid-19 numbers in Gurugram and Faridabad. “There is increased testing and intensified contact tracing. The focus is on conducting strict and better death audit to identify the cause of death and prevent fatality rate. We have been successfully doing that,” said the official.