The number of daily Covid tests in Bengal has gone down from 60,000 in June to just above 40,000 now, prompting doctors to call for stepping up testing to detect cases early and contain the spread of the virus.

The expert committee on Covid-19, set up by the state government, has instructed all testing labs in government hospitals and medical colleges and clinics run by the Calcutta Municipal Corporation to ramp up testing immediately.

“Patients with complaints of diarrhoea, mild fever and persistent cough need to be screened as intensively as those complaining of sudden loss of smell and taste. We have urged all testing centres to increase the number of tests immediately,” said Gopal Krishna Dhali, who is leading a 10-member expert committee on Covid 19 in the state.

“The false sense of security is misleading. The real numbers will help the state government identify any emerging trend (in the epidemic) and the health department prepare better.”

According to the health department data, the number of tests for Covid-19 has slid from 60,113 on June 13 to 45,122 on July 28 — a fall by 14,991 in just about a month and a half.

The fall in the number of tests, experts said, is leading to a fall in the number of reported cases and encouraging a section of the people to drop their guard from a false sense of security. This at a time when several private hospitals in the city are seeing a rise in the number of Covid patients, including those in need of intensive care.

Public health experts have called the trend dangerous, particularly because a growing number of people have stopped abiding by the mask mandate and other Covid protocols.

Metro reported on Wednesday about an abrupt rise in the number of Covid patients, including critical ones, being admitted to private hospitals in Calcutta. Some of the hospitals said they were planning to increase the number of critical care beds in August.

Officials at testing labs in a number of government Covid hospitals, including the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital and MR Bangur Hospital, said the flow of swabs had reduced drastically with patients refusing to turn up for tests.

“So far most critical Covid patients in Calcutta died after being admitted to hospital. If there aren’t adequate numbers of tests, we will suddenly start recording deaths without any admission,” said Yogiraj Ray, an infectious disease specialist and a member of the expert committee. “Without tests how can doctors handle any epidemic situation?”