In view of a steady decline in the incidence of COVID-19 cases and Test Positivity Rate (TPR), both in districts and the capital, the COVID-19 Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) has recommended that Karnataka can reduce its testing target to 75,000 from the current daily tests of around 1.2 lakh. After deliberations on this issue at its 155th meeting on Sunday, the TAC said while 25,000 tests should be conducted in Bengaluru daily, the remaining 50,000 should be done in the rest of the State.
“Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR) guidelines on purposive testing strategy of COVID-19 issued on January 10, 2022 should be duly followed and only symptomatic persons should be tested,” stated the TAC’s report.
In mid-January, when the pandemic was raging like wildfire across the country, the TAC advised the State to go slow on testing. It had recommended that random testing should be stopped and the focus should only be on symptomatic persons. For some time (when the transmission was very high after January 18), Karnataka was doing over 2 lakh tests and the daily target was reduced following the TAC’s recommendation.
