About 98% of the samples taken in Haryana have tested negative for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), shows the data accessed from the Haryana health department.
As per the figures, the Haryana government has so far sent samples of 14,560 people, 12,253 of which tested negative. Only 255 — about 2% — have tested positive for the infection, whereas reports of 2,069 samples sent to different labs in the state are awaited.
Even in most of the districts, about 99% of the samples collected have tested negative, raising questions over the criteria set for the sampling as the country is already reeling under the shortage of testing kits.
In Karnal district, total 585 samples have been sent for examination of which, only six (1.15%) came out positive. 521 samples have tested negative, while reports of 55 are pending.
In Panipat, of 395 samples, 364 tested negative, whereas reports of 27 are awaited. Only five persons (1.37%) in the district were found infected and four of them have been cured and discharged.
Similarly, 536 samples were sent for examination from Kurukshetra district and reports of 489 came out negative. Results of 45 samples are pending. As of now, only two persons, 0.40% of the people examined, have tested positive. They have been cured.
A senior official in the Haryana health department, on the condition of anonymity, said, “Yes, we can see that most of the samples tested negative. On the one hand, it is a good thing; but on the other, the huge number of negative reports has raised many questions as there already is shortage of testing kits in the country.”
“In fact, all 98 samples sent to Covid-19 lab in Karnal’s Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College from Ambala on Monday have tested negative,” he added.
In this regard, most of the officials in the health department were reluctant to speak and maintained that they were following the guidelines issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
“We test only suspected patients and it is an expansive exercise. We take samples of only those people who fit in the criteria. Many of the patients are asymptomatic, but we need to examine them,” said Dr Sheelkant Pajani, nodal officer for Covid-19 in Ambala.
WhatsApp us