Pune: Non-reporting positive Covid results through Kit Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) and home tests, by laboratories and individuals, remain a concern.
On Wednesday, the Secretary of the Head of the State Dr.
Pradeep Vyas wrote to all the commissioners and division collectors to ensure that the laboratory renewed all positive results through mice on the district portal.
Residents test themselves using a home kit has also been asked to declare and upload positive results to ensure adequate monitoring by local authorities during the period of house isolation.
Vyas wrote that tight monitoring cases remained key because the genome supervision data showed that 70% of Covid cases involved a more serious Delta variant of the new Coronavirus, which showed that it was still circulating.
Senior officials involved in sequencing said the high share of Delta cases came from December reports and is expected to reduce in the main areas because the omicron variants that move quickly, according to research, causes relatively lighter covid.
Officials said many cities and the main areas of the country, including Mumbai, Thane and part of Pune, showed an omicron surge and their report for January is likely to show a boost against the dominance of variants over Delta.
Officials said the caution of Vyas aims to ensure that those who perform their own tests at home do not completely ignore the existence of delta, which can cause Covid seriously and put pressure on hospital resources.
The Minister of Health of Rajesh Tope, after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, also said that while most new cases were light, one had to report positive cases on the portal so that it could be monitored properly by health officials.
In his letter, Vyas also directed local authorities to seek help from Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to monitor all fast testing kits to the pharmacy to the location where they used on a large scale.
“The shop owner of a chemistry can also be educated to tell the person to buy the kit to report a positive test report to the authorities,” said the letter.
Representatives of the Association of Chemists said they had asked customers to immediately report and consult with a doctor if they tested positive through a home test kit.
Anil Belkar, Secretary of Kimiawan of Pune District Association, said there was a high demand for a self-test kit, which meant that people had to be told to upload positive results Covid-19 on the portal.
“We will ask everyone who buys a kit to do it,” he told Toi.