Bhubaneswar: The tests for the novel coronavirus in the state capital crossed 1 lakh mark, with the city registering 1,04,390 tests, Friday.
These tests mainly include: Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR); Rapid Antigen tests and True-Nat tests. While around 52,205 accounted for RT-PCR tests, 21,445 tests were that of Rapid Antigen and 353 for True-NAT.
Moreover, antibody tests, also known as Serological Tests, were done on 5,042 persons to look for the presence of antibodies, which are specific proteins made in response to infections.
“While 79,042 tests were done at government facilities, 25,348 tests were conducted at private centres across the city. The rapid rise in COVID-19 tests was possible with opening of Rapid Antigen Test centres at 16 health-care centres across the city,” said BMC Commissioner Prem Chandra Chaudhary.
Furthermore, mobile testing vans jointly run by BMC and Capital hospital also contributed in taking the figures to this level. While 10 mobile teams of the largest Government hospital of the city are going to different places across Bhubaneswar to conduct tests, three teams remain there to manage the in-house requirements and one team goes with the mobile testing van, which started August 2.
Meanwhile, the city again saw about 324 new cases in Bhubaneswar Friday, taking city’s total COVID tally up to 6,720. This is third time in a row that the city observed cases over 300.
“As more and more cases are reported following a rapid rise in tests, four more experts are inducted into rapid response team for contact tracing, especially at the COVID Control Room at BMC, which is jointly run by BMC, Bhubaneswar Development Authority and Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited,” Chaudhary added.