<p>States are carrying out significantly fewer Covid-19 tests, which can provide the first signal of a new surge caused by the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, scientists and public health officials said on Wednesday, as the number of such cases crossed 70.</p>.<p>Since November 26, when the World Health Organisation (WHO) described Omicron as a variant of concern, the number of daily Covid tests in India never crossed the 1.3-million mark, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), which monitors India’s daily Covid-19 testing.</p>.<p>Compared to November last week, there is a marginal increase of 20,000 daily tests on an average now, which could be due to the increased surveillance at airports after the new variant spread to 60-plus nations. But the level of testing in India is nowhere close to what the experts suggest.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read — <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/city/covid-micro-containment-zones-in-bengaluru-double-in-just-two-weeks-1061249.html" target="_blank">Covid: Micro-containment zones in Bengaluru double in just two weeks</a></strong></p>.<p>“Five million daily tests would have been a good figure for now, distributed across all states, with the option of ramping it up to 20-25 million in a surge situation,” Gautam Menon, professor of physics and biology, Ashoka University, who is tracking the pandemic since last year, told <em>DH</em>.</p>.<p>The maximum that was achieved was nearly 1.29 million tests conducted on December 8 and 9 after which the numbers dropped again.</p>.<p>Since last week, the Health Ministry twice asked the states to augment testing and active case search. The need to increase surveillance was also highlighted at a high-level review meeting chaired by PM Narendra Modi on November 27 — a day after the WHO declaration.</p>.<p>“India already has community transmission and it will spread. Everyone showing up in a hospital for anything from fever to flu symptoms to pneumonia should also be tested. Remember that’s how South Africa caught its first cases,” explained virologist Shahid Jameel.</p>.<p>Jameel and other experts fear Omicron cases would rise manifold by January.</p>.<p>After West Bengal reported its first Omicron case, eight states have now reported the new variants, with Maharashtra leading the chart with 32 cases followed by Rajasthan (17) and Delhi (6).</p>.<p>Jameel and other experts fear Omicron cases would rise manifold by January and airport testing will only delay a surge that will come from local transmission not travelers. Fortunately, all the cases reported in India so far are mild ones.</p>.<p>“People with symptoms should be tested. The syndromic approach should be expanded to any symptoms rather than ILI, SARI and ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome). This is mainly because of the atypical symptoms associated with the Omicron variant,” said Giridhara Babu, an epidemiologist at the Public Health Foundation of India, Bengaluru.</p>.<p><strong>Check out DH's latest videos</strong></p>
<p>States are carrying out significantly fewer Covid-19 tests, which can provide the first signal of a new surge caused by the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, scientists and public health officials said on Wednesday, as the number of such cases crossed 70.</p>.<p>Since November 26, when the World Health Organisation (WHO) described Omicron as a variant of concern, the number of daily Covid tests in India never crossed the 1.3-million mark, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), which monitors India’s daily Covid-19 testing.</p>.<p>Compared to November last week, there is a marginal increase of 20,000 daily tests on an average now, which could be due to the increased surveillance at airports after the new variant spread to 60-plus nations. But the level of testing in India is nowhere close to what the experts suggest.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read — <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/city/covid-micro-containment-zones-in-bengaluru-double-in-just-two-weeks-1061249.html" target="_blank">Covid: Micro-containment zones in Bengaluru double in just two weeks</a></strong></p>.<p>“Five million daily tests would have been a good figure for now, distributed across all states, with the option of ramping it up to 20-25 million in a surge situation,” Gautam Menon, professor of physics and biology, Ashoka University, who is tracking the pandemic since last year, told <em>DH</em>.</p>.<p>The maximum that was achieved was nearly 1.29 million tests conducted on December 8 and 9 after which the numbers dropped again.</p>.<p>Since last week, the Health Ministry twice asked the states to augment testing and active case search. The need to increase surveillance was also highlighted at a high-level review meeting chaired by PM Narendra Modi on November 27 — a day after the WHO declaration.</p>.<p>“India already has community transmission and it will spread. Everyone showing up in a hospital for anything from fever to flu symptoms to pneumonia should also be tested. Remember that’s how South Africa caught its first cases,” explained virologist Shahid Jameel.</p>.<p>Jameel and other experts fear Omicron cases would rise manifold by January.</p>.<p>After West Bengal reported its first Omicron case, eight states have now reported the new variants, with Maharashtra leading the chart with 32 cases followed by Rajasthan (17) and Delhi (6).</p>.<p>Jameel and other experts fear Omicron cases would rise manifold by January and airport testing will only delay a surge that will come from local transmission not travelers. Fortunately, all the cases reported in India so far are mild ones.</p>.<p>“People with symptoms should be tested. The syndromic approach should be expanded to any symptoms rather than ILI, SARI and ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome). This is mainly because of the atypical symptoms associated with the Omicron variant,” said Giridhara Babu, an epidemiologist at the Public Health Foundation of India, Bengaluru.</p>.<p><strong>Check out DH's latest videos</strong></p>
