A mobile sample collection van for collecting samples from returnees was launched in Mon on May 26.
A mobile sample collection van for collecting samples from returnees was launched in Mon on May 26.
Morung Express News
Dimapur | May 26
The Mon district administration on May 26 launched a mobile sample collection van for collecting samples from returnees in Mon.
The initiative was taken up in order with the plan to test every single returnee who comes back to Mon district, Thavaseelan K, Deputy Commissioner of Mon told The Morung Express on May 26.
The mobile sample collection ambulance will travel to the quarantine centres to collect the samples from the returnees.
“We do not want them travelling to the COVID hospital, so we are taking the lab to them,” the DC said.
On the first day of its launch on May 26, five samples were collected. Truenat testing was done for the five samples and all five were negative, the DC informed.
The vehicle will be used in combination with the walk-in sample collection kiosk/booth launched earlier by the Mon district administration.
In order to increase sample collection, the vehicle will cover the quarantine centres to collect samples. If more samples are needed, an ambulance will be sent to the quarantine centre, from which returnees will be brought to the COVID hospital and sample will be collected in the kiosk/booth.
36 tests, including the 5 samples from the mobile van, have been conducted in the district till May 26.
This comes after the ICMR’s revised guidelines on Truenat test which was earlier used only for screening COVID-19 suspect samples, but now can also be used as a confirmatory test. Samples that test positive through the second step of Truenat test, called RdRp gene confirmation assay, are to be treated as true positive cases.
While the Truenat machine in Mon District Hospital can be used for COVID-19 testing, the district is still awaiting the receipt of reagents and cartridges for the second confirmatory test. The state government has placed the indent for the same with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, the DC said.
If the first test result is negative, no further testing is needed, but if the result is positive, we have to send it to ICMR Dibrugarh for confirmation, the DC informed.
The Mon district hospital has tied up with ICMR Dibrugarh for large scale testing of the samples sent from Mon district in one go. “Both the van and the kiosk can be used in combination to maximize the number of samples collected in a single day,” the DC said.
