Coronavirus: Tripura will start phase-wise door-to-door rapid COVID-19 antigen testing from July 13.
Agartala:
Tripura will start phase-wise door-to-door rapid COVID-19 antigen testing across the state from Monday. The announcement comes a day after the Assam government adopted a similar strategy in view of rising coronavirus cases.
Aggressive testing and containment measures were announced after Covid cases in Tripura – which had not reported a single case till the last week in April – touched 1,704 on Tuesday with one death and over 400 active cases.
In Tripura, the exercise will be conducted in two phases. In Phase 1, all state entry points and the population in its 28 containment zones will be covered. There are 7,629 people living in these areas.
Over the next week, starting July 13, the state government will start COVID19 antigen test for all passengers coming from Agartala Airport, railway station and Churaibari check gate on the Assam-Tripura border in North Tripura district.
If anyone is found positive then they will be sent to a Covid care center. They will be sent to quarantine at home for 14 days only after they test negative, officials said.
The state will need around 50,000 rapid antigen test kits for Phase 1. “Some 14,000 have been received from the Central government till now,” Law Minister Ratan Lal Nath said.
In Phase 2, each household of the state will be covered, officials said, adding that the state has decided to follow the Test-Track-Treat method for managing the epidemic.
Health workers will go to every house and screen all members. Those who have fever and display other symptoms will be tested for coronavirus. “The tests will be done through rapid antigen detection kit,” officials added.
An antigen test offers results in under 30 minutes, but is less accurate than the conventional RT-PCR test.
