Tripura set to step up testing as COVID cases surge: Official

Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb has directed officials of the state's COVID-19 core committee to ramp up sample testing, and appealed to people to cooperate with the government in its fight against the disease, a senior official said on Tuesday.

Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb has directed officials of the state's COVID-19 core committee to ramp up sample testing, and appealed to people to cooperate with the government in its fight against the disease, a senior official said on Tuesday. Deb, during a review meeting on Monday evening, expressed concern over the spike in coronavirus cases in the state, and sought strict enforcement of safety protocols.

Tripura recorded 293 new COVID-19 cases and five fatalities on Monday. Dr Tapan Majumder, the head of the microbiology department at Agartala Government Medical College (AGMC) and member of the core panel, said 46 samples were randomly collected for COVID-19 examination from a local market here recently, of which 26 tested positive.

"At a time when the number of infections in India is declining, the state witnessed nine to 10 per cent rise in cases in the last one week. Tripura's doubling rate in COVID- 19 cases at 31.5 days has surpassed the national average. The test results of samples collected from the market have set alarm bells ringing," he told reporters. Majumdar further said that Tripura is likely to hit its peak in COVID-19 cases during October.

"If the numbers do not come down in October, the situation may get out of hand. The state is set to increase its testing rate... People have to participate in this fight against the novel coronavirus. Many of them did not cooperate during the house-to-house survey," he explained. The health department is also making arrangements to start plasma therapy in the state, Majumdar added.