The Indian government is taking all possible measures to contain and tackle the spread of novel coronavirus in the country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that authorities are working in sync to ensure that Covid-19 does not spread further in the country. “No stone is being left unturned to ensure people are healthy,” the prime minister had tweeted.
But many challenges face the country in its fight against the coronavirus outbreak.
Not enough tests
India needs more aggressive testing. As of Monday, authorities had tested barely 9,000 people despite having at least 300,000 kits. An order for one million reagents from Germany has been placed but to put them to use, the number of testing needs to go up.
Token random sampling
On Sunday, 50 of India’s Virus Research and Diagnostic labs, including AIIMS, started randomly testing 20 patients each with severe acute respiratory infections, which include pneumonia. Testing about 1,000 patients is too small a sample for a country with over 1 billion people.
Questionable community spread profiling
India is testing people in ICUs for acute respiratory symptoms such as pneumonia. As per a study conducted on patients in Wuhan, such people get infected at least 8-10 days ago. By looking for people or screening people who may have got infected weeks ago, and not the ones who are getting infected now, are we testing the right people? And with this approach, the community transmission of the virus stands questionable.
No voluntary testing
Many people are still reluctant in coming up for voluntary testing. Voluntary testing can help in understanding the spread.
Exclusion of private hospitals
As per reports, the private sector provides close to 70 per cent of healthcare across the country. It is about time India plays to its strengths and brings the private healthcare sector on board in the fight against coronavirus.
