Maharashtra health minister asks districts, civic bodies to ramp up COVID-19 testing

The Maharashtra health department on Wednesday asked all the district administrations and municipal corporations to increase COVID-19 tests.

While the fatality rate and hospitalisation are going down in Maharashtra, COVID-19 cases are witnessing a surge in some countries, an official release said. 

In view of this, it said, health minister Tanaji Sawant directed all the districts to follow a five-point program -- test, track, treat, vaccinate and (ensure) COVID-19 appropriate behaviour. 

Sawant on Wednesday held a meeting with health department officials of all the districts and municipal corporations. It was also attended by principal secretary, health, Sanjay Khandare and health services director Dr Sadhana Tayde. 

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As per the release, the number of COVID-19 cases in the state is falling and this week the number of new cases dipped by 30 percent compared to the previous week. Positivity rate has gone down by 0.29 per cent and in Akola, Pune, Ahmednagar and Jalgaon districts the rate is below one. 

Last week, 16 new COVID-19 patients were admitted in the hospitals across the state and of these only eight patients were shifted to ICU. 

The state is left with only 135 active COVID-19 patients. While asking all the district administrations and municipal corporations to increase COVID-19 tests, especially RT-PCR tests, Sawant also directed them to send every RT-PCR affected (having CT value less than 30) swab sample for genome sequencing, for which seven laboratories are available in the state. 

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The minister also directed them to appoint a nodal officer for genome sequencing.