Labs under pressure amid virus resurgence

Covid-19 tests face delays; authorities rush to reopen labs temporarily closed after pandemic abated

KARACHI:

A day passed, then two. Y* was yet to receive his Covid-19 test results on Thursday.

Since the pandemic had abated, it almost never took this long for the results to come and until last week, the majority of Covid-19 screening results were released within 24 hours of testing.

But this was not the case any longer, it appeared to Y, a resident of Saddar Town.

"I have asked the rest of my family to get tested and this delay in results is frustrating," he said, exasperated.

While Y looks for an explanation for the delay, health department officials worry over the aggravating situation.

With the resurgence of Covid-19, they feared a situation similar to what was witnessed during May this year, when hospitals were filled to capacity, laboratories struggled to carry out the momentous task of testing innumerable samples and patients died right outside hospitals.

To them, the thought of another spell of chaos in the offing is dreadful.

Laboratories across Karachi are already overwhelmed by the rising number of samples they have been receiving for Covid-19 testing and unable to cope up with the growing pressure, they are struggling to release results earlier than 48 hours to 72 hours of screening.

"The delay is because of the [sudden] rush of people," health department spokesperson Meeran Yousuf explained to The Express Tribune. "Apart from testing new samples, we also have to retest [those of patients under treatment]."

Besides, she added, the health department was particularly focusing on testing elderly persons and high-risk patients, such as those with asthma, diabetes and cardiac disease.

"The burden on the labs is enormous," she remarked.

Along the same lines, a laboratory employee said, "People hardly came for voluntary tests last month. The abrupt rush now indicates that we will see an unprecedented burden [on laboratories] in the coming weeks."

According to health department officials, Karachi's laboratories have the collective capacity to test 14,000 samples per day.

But scores of people with Covid-19-like symptoms have been visiting laboratories for testing of late and with the change in weather and more and more people going for voluntary tests, the relevant authorities are now reopening laboratories, including the one at the University of Karachi (KU), that were closed after the pandemic abated.

The laboratory at KU, with a daily capacity to test around 3,500 samples, was temporarily closed after the number of Covid-19 cases declined in the country. "It will be made fully functional from Saturday," said Yousuf.

'Enough space'

Though she confirmed the growing burden on laboratories, Yousuf maintained that hospitals in Sindh had "enough space" to accommodate Covid-19 patients.

Data shared by the health department also showed that of 1,899 high-dependency unit beds in the province, just 202 are occupied at present.

Moreover, there are 522 ventilators, including those at private facilities, in Sindh's hospitals, with 419 in Karachi, 56 in Hyderabad, 14 in Shaheed Benazirabad, 39 in Sukkur and 24 in Larkana. Of them, 36 are in use for treating Covid-19 patients and 411 are available for the same.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 13^th, 2020.