Records from the district health department office revealed that every third sample suspected to have the swine flu (H1N1) had tested positive.

The district this year recorded 36 positive cases of swine flu, the highest number in the previous seven years since 2016, with a positivity rate of 34.95%. Despite the district′s high rate of positive swine flu tests, statistics show that the authorities have only analyzed 103 samples this year.

According to CMHO Dr. BS Saitya, the health department has established a facility for confirmatory tests in PC Sethi hospital, by collaborating with the MGM, Indore virology lab with an aim of increasing the focus on swine flu testing this year. Previously only the virology lab had been conducting tests. Furthermore, private hospitals have been instructed to provide the suspected samples to government laboratories for confirmation.

Records show that low testing over the last two years resulted in a 99 % dip in swine flu infections in MP from its pre-pandemic level. The Indore Virology Lab evaluated only 221 swine flu samples from the previous two years until the first week of March this year. Only six cases of swine flu were registered in the area in 2020, compared to zero patients the previous year. (ETHealthWorld, September 10, 2022)