Increase Covid testing, Centre tells nine states, UTs amid spread of Omicron variant

The Union government has asked nine states and Union Territories to boost coronavirus testing amid the spread of the Omicron variant, reported PTI on Thursday. These states and Union Territories are Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Jammu and Kashmir and Bihar.

In a letter sent on Wednesday, Additional Secretary of Union health ministry Arti Ahuja pointed to a decline in testing in the places amid a rise in positivity rates and said it was a “cause of concern”.

“Keeping in mind the unpredictable and highly transmissible behaviour of Omicron and the larger preponderance of asymptomatic cases, ramping up testing in the initial days itself will help to ensure that the infected individual does not spread the virus to others,” Ahuja said.

She noted that the Omicron variant has led to an alarming rise in coronavirus cases in many countries even if they had high vaccination levels and said that more cases were the variant were being detected in India.

“There is a need for continued vigil and efforts to prevent any deterioration of the Covid-19 scenario,” she said.

The additional health secretary said that without sufficient testing, it would not be possible to determine the true level of infection spread in the community.

She also advised the…

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