india

Updated: Apr 19, 2020 05:00 IST

The West Bengal government has decided to start pool testing of samples to detect asymptomatic carriers of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). This will bolster the testing record of Bengal, which has been repeatedly drawing flak for its low number of tests for Covid-19.

Till April 17 in Bengal only 4212 samples were tested. Compared to this Karnataka, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh had done 17594, 18029 and 20298 tests respectively.

Bengal’s population is around 100 million. To date, 287 persons have been infected and 12 persons have died.

If a negative result turns up, all samples are assumed to be negative. This method reduces the number of test kits used, compared to testing individual samples. This helps to increases the testing capacities and saves time, money and manpower.

While pool sampling has already been started by the authorities in Uttar Pradesh and Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a few other states are also planning to start it. UP was the first state to start. Pool testing was used to contain the spread of the virus in Germany and Israel.

“In order to increase the capacity of the laboratories to screen more numbers of samples it has been decided to use pooled samples for screening of suspected Covid-19 cases in West Bengal,” said an order issued by the state government on Saturday.

A top official of the state health department said that pool sampling will be done for asymptomatic patients in those areas where prevalence of the disease is less than 2% of the population.

“Samples will be collected from asymptomatic patients during community survey and surveillance. Those suspects who have come in contact with Covid-19 patients and are living in areas where the disease has spread will not be included,” said the official.

Out of the 23 districts in West Bengal, at least 10 districts have not reported any case so far. Officials said that at least 81% of the cases are confined in urban areas with north and central Kolkata with the urban areas of Howrah reporting the maximum cases. There is also a high prevalence of the disease in North 24 Parganas.

“We will take samples of five persons in one pool. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has already issued some guidelines for pool testing and those will be followed,” the official said.

“The more you test, the more you can detect asymptomatic carriers. Random sampling and pool testing are ways through which you can ramp up your testing record. This is a welcome step and the need of the hour,” said Dr Kunal Sarkar, head of the cardiac surgery department at Medica Superspecialty Hospital, one of the doctors who raised the need for pool sampling.

“This will help us cover more persons in less time—who are presently not showing any symptom but may be carriers. This is a big step taken by the government,” said Dr Sukumar Mukherjee, a medical expert in the Covid-19 advisory panel set by the state government.

Saturday’s order came a day after the division bench of Calcutta high court chief justice T B N Radhakrishnan and justice Arijit Banerjee heard arguments on a writ petition and asked the government to inform what action was being taken to tackle the outbreak and how it was determining the cause of deaths, containing the spread of the disease and protecting medical staff and doctors by following guidelines of the ICMR and World Health Organization.

The main contention of the petition is that the West Bengal government is not following the guidelines of the WHO and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on testing, data sharing and safety precautions

Governer alleges PDS scam

Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar has alleged that there is a scam in the public distribution system (PDS) in the state, an allegation that was echoed by the leaders of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Taking to social media, Dhankhar wrote on Saturday, “Covid-19 has to be unitedly fought on the ground and not in media/public relations. No politics at all. Worried-PDS SCAM getting bigger by the day. PDS system is in virtual political hijack-a crime. Free ration for needy and not coffers. Defaulters be sternly dealt @MamataOfficial.”

The BJP’s Darjeeling MP Raju Singh Bista and Alipurduar’s MP John Barla have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleging a scam in PDS. Bista has also spoken to Governor Dhankhar in this regard.

Dhankhar’s tweet came two days after chief minister Mamata Banerjee acknowledged deficiencies in delivering ration to the needy and also removed the state food and supplies secretary.

“There is a problem with ration distribution in only about 10% of cases. We have to look into it and solve the problem,” she had said on Thursday.

The state government has said that nearly 7.5 crore people will receive free ration for six months. The state’s population stood at 91.3 million, according to the 2011 census.

The BJP, however, has demanded the resignation of the state’s food and supplies minister Jyoti Priya Mallick.

“What’s the gain in making the secretary a scapegoat? It’s the minister who needs to be removed if he does not resign on his own,” BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha said on Saturday.

Mallick refused to comment, saying that the chief minister had asked every leader and worker of the party to refrain from indulging in trading political barbs in the time of crisis.

On Saturday, Left leaders and workers, too, staged demonstrations in various parts of the state, including in the districts of Jalpaiguri, Nadia and Kolkata, alleging poor handling of relief work and PDS distribution.