As Madhya Pradesh is witnessing a sharp spike in COVID-19 cases, the Health Department has decided to scale up the corona testing capacity to enable early detection and containment of the infection.

Random testing among persons suffering from severe respiratory and influenza-like-illness in unaffected districts will also be increased, a health official said.

“Since test, track and treat is the only way to prevent spread of infection and save lives, it is imperative that testing should be made widely available to all symptomatic individuals in every part of the state and contact tracing mechanism for containment of infection are further strengthened,” he added. As of now, the target of sampling across the State was 25,950 samples a day which includes 12,975 RT-PCR samples and same number of Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs). Now, the sampling across the State will be ramped up to 32,000 tests in a day, including 16,000 RT-PCR samples and remaining RATs.

The number of patients detected in a single day has rose significantly in the State after sampling was increased.

The State Health Department is also set to increase the number of tests across the State. Earlier, the department had given a target to conduct 3,750 tests in a day in Indore and the same target was given to Bhopal. But, according to the new released orders of Health Department 4,500 tests would be conducted in Bhopal whereas 4,000 would be held in Indore.