3,000 samples still pending, Punjab now has to test 7,000 more

Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said they had decided to test all of those being brought back from outside. “This is the need of the hour. We had not thought the pilgrims, being in a gurdwara and having no contact with the outer world will test positive like this. I spoke to Maharasthra Health Minister also today and told him about it. He told me they had screened all of them but all were asymptomatic.”

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The total number of returnees is expected to be around 7,000 to 8,000. “We will manage them. The extension of curfew gives us the cushion. We will handle it,” the minister said.

While the Health Department ordered the testing of all of them, an official of the department said it was a wait, watch and act policy. “If we will feel the need, we will do pool testing. Otherwise, we will test everyone.”

Pendency to go up

As Punjab’s testing remains low, the pendency of the cases has only grown in the past couple of days. From a pendency of 256 cases on April 7, it rose to 2,713 as of Tuesday. The figures are given in the media bulletin of the state government on COVID-19.

As per government data, after about 150 coming from Hazur Sahib and Kota in Rajasthan were tested, 20 per cent have tested positive so far. At this rate, the government is expecting about 1,400 persons to test positive after having come back from Maharasthra and Rajasthan.

But as pendency goes up, so does the fear of getting false negatives. The sample, taken in a swab from a suspect, is to be preserved at minus 20 degrees centigrade and then it can wait for a week. But with the pendency increasing, there could be a longer wait and the samples may give false reports, an expert said.
Sources said that the Department of Medical Education and Research had written to the Department of Health about the shortage of layered kits that was affecting the testing.

Govt in denial

OP Soni, Minister of Medical Education and Research told The Indian Express that there was no pendency of the cases. He made this claim despite the media bulletin reporting the number of pending cases every day.

“We are up to date. We have ramped up our testing capacity and we can test 1,200 samples every day.

We do not have any pending cases and in case we have to test all samples of returnees, we will be able to handle it. We have 14,000 testing kits lying with us,” he said.

Ministers raise questions

A few Cabinet ministers are privately questioning the move of the government to have rescued so many people stranded in different parts
of the country. They say the government should have got them tested in the state they were stranded in.

“I fail to understand why the government had to take a suicidal step like this. There are other states also. The Uttar Pradesh CM is writing to us to put migrants from his state in quarantine. Do we not realise what we have done? We have put so much of pressure on our system,” a minister said.

Another minister, on anonymity said, though the Punjabis had to come back home but the government should have evolved a better system instead of ferrying them all at once.
Sources said that the Congress government is paying for its bid to outdo the Akalis, who were sharpening efforts to get the pilgrims back.

The government’s decision has also put at risk about 300 drivers of the government asked to rescue those stranded in other states. “As the studies indicate, AC spreads the contagion all the more. These people were rescued in AC buses without social distancing. They stayed cooped up for over 45 hours. You can well imagine the planning. Had they tested only a few pilgrims randomly, they would have known. But over confidence has made us suffer,” a government functionary said.