GMOA urges Govt. to enhance COVID-19 testing facilities, says country at crucial stage

• Says 42,000 persons linked to 176 confirmed patients must be tested within next 2 weeks
• Says all at quarantine centres must be tested

In the latest situational report on COVID-19 released by the GMOA last evening, the association called for the Government to enhance testing facilities for the new coronavirus as the country enters a crucial period in its battle to contain the spread of the disease.

“There are 176 patients confirmed as COVID-19 patients in the country while there have been five deaths. Going by the analysis of the confirmed patients, we can estimate there are 42,000 individuals who have been identified through contact tracing,” the GMOA said in the statement.

The GMOA said all the 42,000 individuals must be tested within the next two weeks to confirm they are not infected with the coronavirus and said while only 70% of the patients get confirmed in the initial test, there was a necessity for a second round of testing to ensure they were free of the virus.

The GMOA also said that every person sent to quarantine centres too should be tested and once they were confirmed as infected with COVID-19, they must be isolated.

It added that while the method of testing must be decided by the Technical Committee appointed by the Health Ministry in this regard, the GMOA was not satisfied with the measures taken by the health authorities at this juncture as some of the corrupt mafia from the previous administration were in the committee