Severe acute respiratory illness surveillance for coronavirus disease 2019, India, 2020.

We describe here the positivity for COVID-19 among SARI patients and their characteristics. Methods: SARI patients admitted at 41 sentinel sites from February 15, 2020 onwards were tested for COVID-19 by real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, targeting E and RdRp genes of SARS-CoV-2. Data were extracted from Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratory Network for analysis. Results: A total of 104 (1.8%) of the 5,911 SARI patients tested were positive for COVID-19. These cases were reported from 52 districts in 20 States/Union Territories. The COVID-19 positivity was higher among males and patients aged above 50 years. In all, 40 (39.2%) COVID-19 cases did not report any history of contact with a known case or international travel. Interpretation & conclusions: COVID-19 containment activities need to be targeted in districts reporting COVID-19 cases among SARI patients. Intensifying sentinel surveillance for COVID-19 among SARI patients may be an efficient tool to effectively use resources towards containment and mitigation efforts. PMID: 32362647 [PubMed - in process]
Source: The Indian Journal of Medical Research - Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Tags: Indian J Med Res Source Type: research