Assam launches “first-of-its-kind” door-to-door COVID-19 testing drive in Guwahati

The Assam Government has launched a “first-of-its-kind” door-to-door COVID-19 testing drive in Guwahati after a massive spike in positive cases in the city was reported since June 15^th, 2020.

The pilot project will be conducted in Ward No 2 (Pandu area) of the Guwahati Municipality, a hotspot of ‘community transmission’ as per the state government.

“In a first of its kind initiative on mass testing in Assam,  Health Dept shall carry out house-to-house #Covid tests in Ward No 2 ( pandu area) of Guwahati Municipality, starting Tuesday (July 7). We target to complete 3000 tests in the Ward in two days, (sic),” Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma tweeted.

Guwahati registered 195 COVID-19 cases on June 28^th, 172 on June 29^th, 380 on June 30^th, 378 cases on July 1^st, 238 cases on July 2^nd, 134 on July 3^rd, 777 on July 4^th, 552 on July 5^th and 598 on July 6^th, 2020.

Also read: Assam: 598 COVID-19 cases confirmed in Guwahati on July 6, state tally rises to 12,522

Assam has so far tested 4.71 lakh samples, of which over 12 thousand patients have tested positive. Before the introduction of the rapid antigen tests, tests were being carried out largely on RT-PCR and TrueNat platforms.

Assam has procured two lakhs rapid antigen test kits after a huge spike in new infections was recorded in Guwahati, northeast India's biggest city which is under a complete lockdown till July 12 to break the chain of transmission.

It may be mentioned that last week, the head of the micro-biology department, her deputy and a team of 10 other technicians of the main Covid testing lab of the Guwahati medical college tested positive after conducting over 50 thousand tests.

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