Coronavirus Update: Is India Testing Enough? Few Tests Means Few Fatalities!
According to the official data, India has passed China’s total number of positive COVID cases. Where are we heading? Why are the lockdown restrictions being relaxed when the number of cases is on a surge. When we had a hundred cases the whole nation with all its states was put into lockdown but when we have more than 80,000 cases the nation is about relaxation in the lockdown. Are we even testing enough? There was a huge doubt in everyone’s mind about India’s testing capabilities. According to the news, India has covered 2 million tests. This is the official number given by the higher authorities. Is this actually real? It is found that this number does not include the number of people who have been tested rather it have it basically tells us about the number of tests that have been done. For an average COVID-19 positive patient, 4 to 5 tests are done on him or probably, even more, to find out the final result about his health. So if we take in the general sense that 2 million tests are spread over a few number of people.
India has tested about 1500 people per million of its population. This is much higher than the number which was achieved in late March but it is still far away from the number which the United States of America, Russia, Spain, and Italy were having.
India had a target to cross 2 million tests by end of may but it is done right now. The target has been achieved. But the fact is that this target is not feasible for a country which has about 1.3 billion people living in adverse conditions. India is testing about 24 samples for each positive case. This clearly spreads the 2 million tests which are done by now over 24 times every patient is treated. There are more than 500 labs that are doing COVID-19 tests, all these labs need to run in full capacity.
USA had conducted 2.2 million tests and 1/5 of those tests showed positive results. The ratio of the positive number of tests versus the total number of tests done is extremely high in Iran. over 30% of the tests they have done are testing positive. Is it true that if India expands its testing capabilities, the number of positive patients will be on a surge which the government cannot handle?
The leader of the opposition, Rahul Gandhi is also questioning the government about their testing capabilities. During times like these if these political agendas are taken up, how will the government focus on the main issues? The ICMR responded to Rahul’s criticism by saying that India is not testing fewer patients.
Taking the population base into consideration, it is very difficult to analyze the situation of India right now. Since the day we had the first COVID-19 case, till today, the cases are rising. And since that day, one more thing has increased, that is the testing capability of India. This clearly shows that if India increases is testing even more, the number of cases that we will get will be huge. During times like now aggressive testing is the mean weapon to defeat the virus. Rapid antibody kids are for monitoring the surveillance and not for early diagnosis this is why there should be no concern with respect to the testing kits being faulty.
The strategic approach for COVID-19 which is being used in India involves defining the area of operation, applying perimeter control, differentiating the containment zones. This approach is being used by India even today. Areas are divided on the basis of the number of cases they have reported.
Only if this speech is made by the prime minister of India had all these factual data points included, the citizens of the country would actually nowhere in the country lies with its fight against the disease. People are living in fantasies of having a better tomorrow. But the fact is that we are far away from that and we need to live with the virus with all the precautions we can.
There is no end to Coronavirus without appropriate testing. Testing needs to be an essential part of the control strategy. If the current measures which are taken up by the government failed to produce any positive result, the situation of our country can go into disdain.
Later on, even the dates which are occurring right now in the country are divided into the corona category and the non-Corona category. This is decided by the medical authorities only. There is the possibility that the Coronavirus caused deaths are shown at a lesser number.
The testing capabilities of India have also gathered international media speculations. Scientists believe that testing in India is too slow and scope is too narrow. We need to hunt for a game-changer with various diagnostic companies and labs all around the country. Fast testing needs to be available so that the whole country can be tested at least once.
All over the world there are many people who have the symptoms of Covid-19 but are testing negative. Some people with no symptoms are testing positive. Some are being infected for the second time. Are the tests reliable or is the virus too complicated?
The details about the virus about how it works and how it spreads is still unknown. Researchers are worried that the virus is mutating so now it will spread more fastly. In the span of a few days in India, the virus has started spreading at a very high rate. There has been a massive increase in the number of cases. The reason behind the same remains unknown. There is no magic tablet that can be taken to reduce Coronavirus but only testing. Till the time you are not tested you will be spreading the virus to multiple people around you and it will create a chain of events and a chain of patients.
Health officials from all around the world are saying that we need to think bigger because our country has a huge population. If appropriate measures are not taken at the right time, the whole world can submerge into this virus.
At the end of the day, lower tests mean fewer fatalities which means a higher level of risk for us.
