The number of daily new Covid cases in Kolkata is still hovering around 200 but the urge among people to get tested has diminished significantly in recent weeks, officials of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) said.
The civic body resumed its mobile Covid test camps after Durga Puja but no camp was held in the last five or six days because of lack of demand for tests.
Public health experts said it was natural that a fear about a disease would wither away with time but it was “not yet time to take it easy against Covid”.
People avoiding tests despite reasons to get tested could end up spreading the virus unwittingly, they said.
The 17 static Covid test centres and two mobile camps of the KMC together conduct about 500 tests a day. The tests include both the RT-PCR test, considered the most confirmatory test for the disease, and rapid antigen test.
About 1,000 tests a day were conducted by the KMC a few months back.
KMC officials blamed the drop in the number of tests to the disappearance of fear about Covid-19 among people.
Sources said ward coordinators, too, were no longer showing the kind of interest they showed at the peak of the first and second wave to mobilise people for tests in markets and other places.
“We used to conduct about 1,000 tests a day in April. At that time people were scared of Covid and thought, rightly so, that late diagnosis of the disease might lead to serious complications. But now most people are relaxed,” the official said.
Kolkata reported 205 new Covid cases on Sunday, 181 on Saturday, 203 on Friday and 228 new cases on Thursday.
Public health expert Abhijit Chowdhury said it was natural that people’s fear about a disease would diminish with time. But from the perspective of Covid-19, it was not the right thing to be allowed.
“If people avoid getting tested despite coming in contact with a Covid patient, they would only give the virus a chance to infect more people. All those who they meet are actually being exposed to the virus. I am not saying people should panic, but people should still follow all the basic safety measures we were following at the onset of the pandemic,” said Chowdhury, who is a member of the Covid task force set up by the Bengal government.
