Kolkata: To provide an impetus to the sample testing mechanism across the state, Health department has instructed all the government and private run laboratories which are carrying out COVID-19 testing and the district health administration to ensure that the reports are made available within 48 hours after taking a swab sample. A sudden influx of migrant labourers in the state has majorly contributed to the number of the COVID patients across the state. Despite the best effort made by the state government to stop the transmission of infection, the number of affected patients is going up. It has resulted in the delay of submitting the sample reports due to excessive burden. The health department increased the testing labs in last one month and carrying out more than 9000 samples on a daily basis. In May, it has carried out more than 2 lakh sample testing which is a record despite the challenges posed by cyclone Amphan. Health departments target was to conduct 1.5 lakh tests in May. A senior health official said that the return of migrant labourers in various districts has led to the rise in the number of patients. Even the labs are also over burdened. In some districts there has been a delay in making the result available due to some technical issues and a shortage in manpower. All the laboratories have been asked to conduct additional testing to bridge the gap and the district health officials have been instructed to deploy more workforce. "The health department had made all the arrangements and reduced the infection rate by conducting more number of sample tests on each day. But the influx in the migrant labourers many of whom had tested positive, posed a serious challenge before the health department. In some districts the reports got delayed. In some cases the information could not be uploaded due to technical issues," a health official said. It was learnt from the sources that in some places the data piled up but could not be uploaded due to a shortage in the data entry operator. Around 10,000 sample reports were not made available for public. The health department has however asked the laboratories and the district administration to iron out the problems and deploy additional man power so that the reports can be prepared and submitted within 48 hours from taking of the swab sample. A target has been set before the laboratories by the government to check the piling up of reports in the districts. Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar in his tweet on Monday said that he wanted to know how many reports were pending. Dhankhar tweeted: "Seek enlightenment @derekobrienmp as to how many results of test reports are pending as he is social media spokesperson @MamataOfficial. I put this figure over 40,000 to Chief Secretary. Awfully worrisome scenario. Such long delay in test results defeats purpose of testing." The ruling party leaders have however hit out at the Governor for maligning the state government and making shocking claims without corroborating them with data.

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