Chief Secretary Vijay Bhaskar has instructed the district officials to deploy additional data entry operators, and infrastructure and ensure sufficient testing capacity to prevent delay.
Representational image/PTI
Aiming to speed up COVID-19 testing, the Karnataka government has instructed all districts not to take more than 72 hours from the time of sample collection to the result being declared, following a high level meeting on Saturday. The decision was taken after Karnataka Chief Secretary Vijay Bhaskar, IAS, organized a web meeting with district collectors and District Surveillance Officers to discuss the reduction of delay of testing samples for COVID-19 across the state. The meeting was attended by Dr. Shalini Rajneesh, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Planning, Statistics and Program Implementation, Pankaj Kumar Pandey, IAS, Commissioner, Department of Health and Family Welfare, and Dr Arundhathi Chandrasekhar, MD NHM (National Health Mission). "The districts were instructed not to delay sample results beyond 72 hours of collection (of the sample)," said an official. According to the new directions, the maximum time between sample collection and its transportation should not exceed 24 hours. Similarly, the time a sample arrives at a lab to its data being entered should not also exceed 24 hours, and not more than 24 hours should pass from the time data has been entered to the time the result has been declared. "A software has been developed to monitor the process from sample collection, transportation and movement between labs and districts," said the official. Health Commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pandey has instructed that a text message be sent to all the people who gave their swab samples. Chief Secretary Vijay Bhaskar has instructed the district officials to deploy additional data entry operators, and infrastructure and ensure sufficient testing capacity to prevent delay. Senior official Shalini Rajneesh has suggested precautions to be taken so that no sample goes wasted without testing. "A WhatsApp group has been created for quick communication between districts to sort out issues related to testing," the official said. Bhaskar held a web meeting with district chief executive officers, and district surveillance officers along with other senior officials to reduce delays in testing Covid samples. Karnataka's COVID-19 tally breached the 90,000 mark with 5,072 new cases on Saturday, resulting in the state's tally rising to 90,942, even as 72 more patients succumbed to the virus.
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