Coronavirus testing rate remains low

By LULU MARK
DESPITE the high risk of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) Delta variant, testing rate in the country remains very low, National Pandemic Response deputy controller Dr Daoni Esorom says.
Dr Esorom urged provincial health authorities (PHAs) to step up and do testing to enable better informed decisions to address the pandemic in the country.
He said testing had been a major concern as the rate was very low.
“The national positivity rate was 11 per cent and the average monthly positivity rate was 5 per cent,” he said.
“We are not getting the required number of tests.
“People dying have not been tested and they would have died from Covid-19 on top of other diseases.
“If we do a lot of testing, we will pick up a lot of cases.”
Dr Esorom urged PHAs to increase testing to enable better informed decisions to address the pandemic in the country, especially in the face of the Delta variant.
He said, to encourage more testing, the National Control Centre (NCC) has been advised the health facilities through the PHAs to swab and test everyone with influenza-like symptoms.
“We need to do more testing,” he said.
“That is the only way that we will know how this Covid-19 is spreading.”
He urged people to also go for testing if they were feeling sick.