The rise in the numberof COVID-19 cases to about 300 over one week in Aurangabad district in Maharashtra can be largely attributed to augmented testing capacity, a senior official said on Sunday.Divisional Commissioner Sunil Kendrekar told PTI that the administration had earlier been testing only primary contacts of coronavirus positive cases but has now included secondary contacts as well.Aurangabad has been classified as one of the 14 'Red' zones in Maharashtra, which has reported more than 12,000 COVID-19 cases so far."Augmented testing is the reason for the rise in the number of cases. This aggressive tracing (of contacts) has also helped us in detecting more patients," he said.Kendrekar also said that since majority of COVID-19 cases are asymptomatic, the rate of recovery will be good."We have succeeded in containing (the number of) asymptomatic patients hence the rate of recovery will also be good," he said.Kendrekar said though the rising number of cases is a matter of concern, people should not panic.Listing various measures to contain spread of the coronavirus, the divisional commissioner said clinics have been set up in the containment zones and swabs of suspected cases are being collected.He said testing of samples will receive a further boost with the activation of laboratory at a university.The divisional commissioner further said that it should not be assumed that the ongoing lockdown will be "virus- proof".He said one cannot assume that the number of coronavirus positive cases will not rise once the lockdown is lifted after May 17."People should not do 'corona policing'," he said.Kendrekar also informed that dedicated Ramzan markets will not be allowed."People can buy essential commodities during a period of four hours every alternate day," Kendrekar added.
