Around the end of August in Punjab’s Chatha Nanhera village, samples from two individuals tested positive for Covid-19. But when asked to q...
Around the end of August in Punjab’s Chatha Nanhera village, samples from two individuals tested positive for Covid-19. But when asked to quarantine at a health centre, the patients refused.
Later in the day, a local gurudwara announced that no one in the village would be tested for Covid-19 and health teams would be prevented from working. On September 9, the BBC reported that the problems had spread with “rumours flying fast in Punjab that the virus is a hoax, that people who do not have Covid-19 are being taken away to care centres, where they are being killed for their organs, and that bodies are being swapped to allay suspicion”.
These episodes raise a critical question. While much of the debate around testing in India (and other countries) revolves around the supply of tests and labs, what if people just do not want to get tested? The low demand for testing should not come as a surprise. Low take-up remains one of the most persistent barriers to public health interventions around the world.
Unfortunately, opposition to testing implies not only severe problems for containing Covid-19 but also for interpreting any population-based surveillance statistics where non-response is high.
Extreme reluctance to test?
To understand the extent of this problem, we collaborated with Punjab government...
