Covid-19: Entrepreneurs urge PM Modi to scale up testing infra, capacity

India must increase its efforts for asymptomatic testing at a large scale to diagnose community transmission, say entrepreneurs in their representation

India remains at the bottom among all nations affected by the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) when it comes to testing suspected cases, even as the number of cases in the country is increasing rapidly. There is a dire need for India to test, not just those who might die, but also those who might spread the virus. A group of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to scale up testing infrastructure and capacity by allowing the private sector to participate in the testing process.

In a presentation prepared by venture capitalists and founders of 51 start-ups and businesses, including Abhiraj Singh Bhal, co-founder of Urban Company (formerly Urban Clap), CRED founder Kunal Shah, and Snapdeal co-founder Kunal Bahl, said that countries which had acted “early and strongly”, such as South Korea, Singapore and Japan, had been able to somewhat control the spread when compared with countries that acted late — Irab, Italy, France and the US, among others.

“With one of the lowest coronavirus testing rates in the world, the country must scale up its efforts by aggressively testing those with symptoms and those without symptoms, because asymptomatic people are more likely to spread the virus if they are not diagnosed in time,” said the presentation. It noted that India must increase its efforts for asymptomatic testing at a large scale to diagnose community transmission. As the number of coronavirus cases scale up, so should the testing of asymptomatic at the earliest.

According to the current testing protocols in the country, India can conduct up to 10,000 tests a day. And only those with a history of travel to high-risk countries affected by the virus and people who came in contact with those having tested positive are asked to be quarantined for 14 days, and those who show symptoms of the infection are tested.