Covid-19: Test All Suspects And Report Truthfully
Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.
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By Linus Garg
First publised on 2022-01-08 03:43:23
About the Author
Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.
View all posts by this Author
After increasing at an alarming rate, Covid cases in India showed a slight decline in growth (although the overall numbers kept growing) on Friday. But this was not because the virus has slowed down. It was two entirely different reasons. The first was because a new national policy dictates that asymptomatic contacts of a Covid positive person need no longer be tested and the second was due to the fact that more and more people as testing at home using kits freely available in the market and not reporting the results. Both these factors have lowered the count and will not help in giving the correct position going into the future.
Since most of those who are testing positive this time around are either asymptomatic or have mild symptoms, it is not the right thing not to test asymptomatic contacts of positive persons. It has to be recognized that even a single untested but positive person can start a chain of infections which will be difficult to control. As it is, many who have mild symptoms do not test themselves. Now if the government says that asymptomatic contacts will also not be tested, the field is left open for chaos. As it is evident now that community transmission has set in, it is imperative that all contacts, including asymptomatic ones, of a Covid positive person need to be tested and quarantined in found positive.
The second issue is also disturbing. Although self-testing is safer than going to a testing centre in these times, the veracity of the results can be in doubt if the kit is not ICMR approved. The market is flush with sub-standard kits of low quality and they cannot be trusted. Also, since these are Rapid Antigen test kits, their results cannot always be trusted. Further, in cases of home testing, most respondents do not report the results to authorities, leading to under-reporting. This lowers the overall tally and gives the impression that cases are declining.
Correct testing and correct reporting is important as public policy is drafted based on those figures. There will be different policies to combat different situations. Hence it is important that all suspected persons are tested and home testing results are truthfully reported to authorities.
