BBMP ramps up daily Covid-19 testing in Bengaluru; target to 5,000

The BBMP may be doing fewer than 1,000 Covid tests a day in recent times, but an increase in ILI/SARI tests at hospitals coupled with mobile testing have pushed up the numbers.

On Sunday, the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) recommended raising the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) test targets to 5,000.

BBMP Special Commissioner (Health) Dr K V Trilok Chandra said tests in the city has been ramped up to 5,500 since December 27.

While most samples are from hospitals, the BBMP has newly deployed one swab collector each at its 141 Primary Health Centres (PHCs) for mobile testing. They will mainly test symptomatic people in crowded areas like markets and bus stands, Dr Chandra added.

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Though positive cases have slightly spiked, experts and officials believe that it is too soon to talk about a trend. The number of fresh cases, for instance, stood at 29 on December 26, though daily numbers this month largely remained less than 20.

“With the increase in testing, it’s quite normal for positive cases to increase. But the test positivity rate (TPR) usually jumps only when there is cluster formation and an outbreak,” said TAC chairman Dr M K Sudarshan. TPR in the city remains within or around two per cent, which is not considered alarming. The city also has no clusters (locations with more than five cases).

Testing policy

State Health Commissioner D Randeep said testing policy will be reviewed to see if asymptomatic people in high-risk zones such as hospital staff and those in the service industry should also be tested as was done during the previous waves.

Positive cases detected at the Bengaluru international airport have been slightly higher. The health department has been doing 2% random tests at the airport, a procedure in place over the last one year, District Health Officer, Bengaluru Rural, Dr B K Vijendra said.

Now, people detected as symptomatic in thermal screening are also tested. On average, about five people are also detected to be symptomatic daily, Dr Vijendra said.

“Starting today, those symptomatic are being shifted to Bowring Hospital or any other private hospital of their choice,” the district health officer said.

While 19 international arrivals have tested positive at the airport this month alone, Dr Vijendra said a trend could be detected observing the test results for the next seven to 10 days.