30% of SARI patients Covid positive: NIV
According to ICMR, SARI surveillance definition includes a patient who is over 15 years, has history of fever, at least one respiratory symptom (cough, shortness of breath) and who requires hospitalisation.
According to the ICMR, a cumulative total of 2,60,15,297 samples have been tested up to August 11 with 7,33,449 samples being tested on Tuesday. (Express photo by Amit Chakravarty) The Indian Council of Medical Research’s National Institute of Virology (ICMR-NIV) has found at least 30 per cent of Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) cases were positive with coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
“A sizable number of people with the Covid-19 have been found among those hospitalised with SARI, in Pune. This is an ongoing activity. Of 4,939 referred SARI cases from January-end till August 4, a total of 1,501 were found positive for Covid-19,” said Prof Priya Abraham, director of ICMR-NIV.
More than 1.5 lakh samples have been tested for SARS-CoV-2 at the apex research institute. “These are samples mainly from Pune and around. As many as 26,232 out of 1.5 lakh samples were positive (around 17 per cent). Transmission rates are variable in different settings in all regions,” the director said.
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