The Centre is preparing for the next two months which are very critical as India has moved into Lockdown 4.0. It might see a manifold increase in coronavirus positive cases. The latest plan of action is to test approximately 10 million people by July-end and bring on board added facilities and a specialised protocol for almost 20 key cities to combat the spread of the novel virus and also ensure that equipment is stockpiled till August.

Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Indore, Bhopal and Chennai are among the identified 20 cities, with others as the testing-to-positive confirmation ratio has been very high. These cities will require specialised treatment in view of their density and large slum clusters. The Centre will also carry out a complete review of its testing strategy in the 1st week of June and then decide on the increase, direction and protocol for further testing. The review is been planned ahead of July, as expected to be a crucial month for India’s coronavirus case course.

Internal governmental assessments are trying to find almost 500,000-700,000 positive cases by July-end and are gearing up to handle this situation. As the procurement of health support systems are trying to tackle the coronavirus, sources said the country’s health infrastructure would feel the strain if it hits the worst-case scenario of 800,000 - 1 million positive cases by August end along with a significant rise in cases per day.

Currently, India has over 91,000 coronavirus positive cases with almost 4,000-5,000 cases being added daily. The geographic spread of the coronavirus is expected to shift towards the East as migrant workers are returning from both Bihar and Odisha and have reported a 3-fold increase in cases.

Officials have said that the outbreak might be contained from spreading into rural areas as returned workers are already quarantined before entry to their villages. As West Bengal has finally increased their testing and is on a better footing, whereas there is a new worry on account of Gujarat and Telangana. Both states have seen a drop in the number of tests conducted and this issue has already taken up by the Centre with the both the state governments. Maharashtra has a high testing rate, which still remains worrisome.

On 15th May, data suggested 4.3% national average of testing to coronavirus positive Ratio with Maharashtra at 11.9%, Delhi at 9.0%, Gujarat at 7.8%, Chhattisgarh at 6%, Telangana at 5.4%, whereas Madhya Pradesh is at 4.9% and West Bengal at 4.6%.

The country’s current situation is better in terms of PPE, N95 mask requirements and all efforts are on build to a 28-day stockpile instead of the present 15 days.The country will move forward from the antibody test plan to the ELISA test mechanism within a fortnight. Plans are also under process to have a molecular diagnostic laboratory and running in every medical college of the country.

Source: ET Healthworld