500 tests in one day, state sees dip in '+ve confirmation rate'

Pritesh Basu | MP | 1 May 2020 | Kolkata: With a record increase of 500 COVID-19 tests in just a day, Bengal has witnessed a considerable plunge in "positive confirmation rate" in the past 24 hours indicating a drop in the number of people getting infected to the deadly Coronavirus. 

As many as 1,905 tests have been conducted in the past 24 hours that was 1,397 on Wednesday and it has been made possible when only 13 laboratories are operational. The total number of tests held in the state so far is 16,525. 

The COVID-19 scenario in the state is getting clearer with the increase in the number of tests and the "positive confirmation rate", which indicates the percentage of people found positive out of the total of them tested, shows that lesser number of people got infected to the disease in the past 24 hours. The positive confirmation rate was 5 per cent on Wednesday that dropped to 4.6 per cent on Thursday. 

At least 37 people tested positive in the past 24 hours and the audit committee has ascertained that till date 33 people have died due to COVID-19 after examining reports of 105 deaths while remaining 72 were due to co-morbidity where Corona was incidental. Till Wednesday, the death toll in Bengal due to the COVID-19 was 22. 

The audit committee has submitted a detailed report to the state Health and Family Welfare department on Thursday. Besides confirming 11 new deaths due to the disease, the committee has also gave its recommendation on the need for proper maintenance of record of each patient and following a uniform format while issuing a death certificate of a person who died due to COVID-19 after they spotted differences in each of the death certificates of 105 cases they examined. 

Giving details of the recommendations of the audit committee, Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha said an advisory will be issued based on the recommendations and it has to be followed by all hospitals and healthcare establishments. 

"The committee has clearly stated that the process of maintaining medical records of patients needs to be improved at the hospitals. In connection with issuing of death certificates, the committee has directed doctors to mention immediate, antecedent and underline cause of death. Time interval of presumed onset of condition and death, standard investigation report and details if there are any underlining co-morbidities also have to be provided," Sinha said adding that the audit committee will randomly check reports of patients maintained by the hospital, which is straining by mandatory. 

Subsequently, they will inform whenever they get any new findings and give recommendations to the Health department. 

He also stated that the setting up of the committee was quite essential in terms of preparing a treatment protocol to fight the disease that was new to the entire world. He further added that the state government's target is not to issue death certificates but to ensure that a person gets cured. 

In terms of giving relaxations in green zones from Monday, the Cabinet Committee on Covid Management will hold a meeting on Saturday and a notification will be issued based on its outcome. Though there was a video conference between the Cabinet Secretary and Chief Secretaries of all states on Thursday, the Centre is yet to give its detailed guideline to the states. 

The state government has also made it clear that people returning from other states will not be allowed to enter the areas in the red zones. 

(Courtesy, source and link- http://www.millenniumpost.in/kolkata/500-tests-in-one-day-state-sees-dip-in-ve-confirmation-rate-408119)