The Union Health Ministry Wants States to Intensify Testing to Include Asymptomatic Contacts

The Union Health Ministry Wants States to Intensify Testing to Include Asymptomatic Contacts:
COVID-19 continues to increase in India, prompting the new circular from the union health ministry urging all states and union territories to conduct COVID-19 testing in a strategic and targeted way.
Several states and union territories have seen a decline in the number of tests, according to data from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
"All states and union territories must increase testing to ensure that an effective understanding of the speed of the pandemic is maintained and that citizen-centric actions are taken as soon as possible," said Arti Ahuja, additional secretary of the Union Health Ministry.
Asymptomatic contacts of laboratory-confirmed cases, as well as all those who might be at risk, should also be tested, according to the circular. ICMR, seven days ago, published a policy statement in which it recommended that asymptomatic patients not be tested.
As well, testing remains key to the reduction of mortality and morbidity caused by the disease - identifying new clusters and new hotspots as well as tracking their spread.