Every primary health centre should do a minimum of 5-10 RT-PCR tests per day: TAC

Every primary health centre (PHC) and community health centre (CHC) should do a minimum of five to ten RT-PCR tests per day, recommended the State Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) here on Monday.

It recommended that all the cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection will have to be tested (irrespective of hospitalization) and all the cases of Influenza-like Illnesses will have to be tested (through active case search or house-to-house visits) in all the districts.

All individuals (other than ILI and SARI) who fulfil the suspect Covid-19 case definition have to be tested (Fatigue, loss of smell, loss of taste, diarrhoea, body ache, skin rashes etc.)

All symptomatic contacts of laboratory-confirmed cases, all symptomatic health care workers, and asymptomatic direct and high-risk contacts of a confirmed case should be tested once between day 0 and day 7 of coming in his/her contact.

TAC strongly recommended to compulsorily test all symptomatic persons by using RAT. However, symptomatic RAT negative should be followed up by RT-PCR as per ICMR guidelines. It also recommended RAT for cases with high severity/ mortality, and all international travellers without RT-PCR result in the last 72 hours. Sentinel Surveillance is essential to identify early surge in cases and initiating containment measures, TAC observed, in its recommendations to the Government. A minimum of five to 10 RT PCR tests per day per CHC/PHC should be done.

All persons with symptoms in the outpatient department (OPD), all persons with any symptoms suggestive of Covid-19 and not vaccinated must be tested, and a fixed proportion (5-10 samples/per day/CHC) of all the OPD patients in hospitals to be tested.

The technical committee recommended random testing in congregation sites: 15 samples/per day/PHC or CHC. Collect samples from workplaces, bus stands, railway stations and the results shall be uploaded to the ICMR database.

Schools and colleges when open: (10 samples per week). Check posts and entry points into the State: (five samples per day) random testing must be made mandatory. In the case of strong clinical suspicion of Covid-19, the technical panel recommended that a repeat RT-PCR should be done after 24 hours in case of negative test results. If the second RT-PCR is also negative, the chest X-ray/high-resolution CT scan is recommended.

Five per cent of all the samples from high positivity districts (test positivity rate more than 2%) are to be sent for genomic surveillance, TAC said. It asked for sequencing of samples if cases are from super spreader events or proven cases of re-infections.

It also recommended sequencing of samples from clusters of cases in children, infection after vaccination (breakthrough infections) and cases from international travellers. It also recommended door-to-door testing by ASHAs in high positivity districts (with more than 5%).