The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has widened its COVID-19 testing strategy to include all patients with influenza-like symptoms such as fever, cough, sore throat, a runny nose in hotspots and cluster zones of the viral outbreak.
The widening of the scope of testing came against the backdrop of a study carried out by ICMR that showed 40 patients admitted in government hospitals with severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) had tested positive for COVID-19. These 40 patients have had no contact with a COVID-19 positive case or any history of international travel.
The sentinel surveillance carried out by the ICMR covering 5911 patients with SARI symptoms found 104 persons (1.8%), spread across 52 districts in 20 states, to be COVID-19-positive. Out of the 104 positive cases 40 were found to have no contact with COVID-19 patients nor had any travel history. Though the study, in its interpretation and conclusions, does not mention community transmission of COVID-19, the ICMR had commissioned the surveillance to look for community transmission of the virus.
“COVID-19 containment activities need to be targeted in districts reporting COVID-19 cases among SARI patients. Intensifying sentinel surveillance for COVID-19 among SARI patients may be an efficient tool to effectively use resources towards containment and mitigation efforts,” the study said.
According to the study, the majority of the SARI patients were tested from Gujarat (792), Tamil Nadu (577), Maharashtra (553) and Kerala (502) with COVID-19 positivity of 1.6%, 0.9%, 3.8% and 0.2%, respectively.
COVID-19 positive SARI patients were detected from eight districts in Maharashtra, six in West Bengal and five each in Tamil Nadu and Delhi.
The median age of Covid-19 positive SARI patients was 54 years, and 85 (83.3%) were males; 83 (81.4%) of the affected patients were more than 40 years of age.