Bihar: First testing red flags went up 6 months ago

Saturday, 13 February 2021Newsdesk

THE FIRST red flags came six months ago. In August 2020 when Covid testing was suddenly ramped up as infections began to soar across the country. In Bihar, Katihar led the way with around 3,000 samples a day that month, opening up a wide gap with others that were testing “barely 700-1,000 per day”.

New Delhi, 13 February 2021

“After Katihar, a meeting of District Magistrates was called in Patna, where all DMs were asked to increase testing. Around that time, Antigen testing had begun and kits were being supplied in bulk to districts. A few other districts started following Katihar’s example, and there was pressure on other districts to increase testing,” a senior official, who attended the meeting, told “The DMs were asked to put in extra effort… But some of them pointed out that they did not have enough lab technicians to conduct the testing. All the 38 districts were then given 20-25 additional lab technicians and that was when testing really increased,” the official, who still tracks testing at the district level, said.

Source -indianexpress.com