Several private hospitals in Kolkata recorded a sharp rise in the number of Covid tests on Monday compared with the Puja days.
Officials of all hospitals said the test positivity rate, too, had increased.
At Peerless Hospital, 10 to 12 people were turning up daily for the Covid test between Saptami and Dashami. “On Monday, as many as 168 people came for the RT-PCR test,” said Sudipta Mitra, chief executive of Peerless Hospital.
Many people, he said, were turning up with mild symptoms such as fever and cough.
“There was an apprehension that Covid cases would rise after the Puja. Also, there were many people who were reluctant to get tested on the festive days despite having mild symptoms,” said Chandramouli Bhattacharya, a specialist in infectious diseases at Peerless Hospital. At the RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences, around 50 people were being tested for Covid daily between October 12 and 15, the four Puja days.
On Monday, around 200 people got themselves tested.
“Before the Puja, around 200 people would get tested for Covid every day. Now, along with people with symptoms, those traveling outside Kolkata are also coming for the test,” said R. Venkatesh, regional director, east, Narayana Health, of which the RN Tagore Hospital is the flagship unit.
“Also, the number of people getting admitted has gone up, which has added to the number of tests.”
The test positivity rate for Covid at the RN Tagore Hospital has gone up from around 3 per cent before the Puja to 7 per cent now, he said.
At Belle Vue Clinic, only nine people got tested on the four Puja days. Since Saturday, 62 people have got tested.
“The number of patients admitted has also gone up from below 10 before the Puja to 23. We had to increase the number of Covid beds,” said Pradip Tondon, CEO of Belle Vue.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation on Monday announced that it was cancelling six of the 12 holidays between October 19 and November 19.
“We were working with a skeletal workforce for the holidays, when 33 of the 144 clinics were functional. But now we have decided to keep all 144 clinics open on six out of 12 holidays,” said Subrata Roy Chowdhury, chief municipal health officer.