The City of São Paulo began, this Wednesday (5), to do double testing of Covid-19 and influenza in people with flu-like symptoms. According to the Municipal Health Department, approximately 300,000 sets of tests will be made available in the next 15 days in all 469 UBSs (Basic Health Units) in the capital of São Paulo.
According to secretary Edson Aparecido, the idea is to create a more precise panel to assess how the transmission of the two viruses in the city is going, and, mainly, the advancement of the micron variant of the new coronavirus.
“Based on these results, we will be able to define new actions,” said the Health Ministry holder, who accompanied the start of testing at UBS Santa Cruz, in the south of the capital. The first person tested, a woman with flu symptoms, tested positive for Covid-19.
According to the secretariat, first rapid antigen testing will be done for Covid. “The result comes out in 15 minutes and, if it is positive, the RT-PCR test will be applied”, said Aparecido.
If the Covid test is negative, influenza testing will be performed.
Outside the public network, amidst this high demand, patients find it difficult to schedule a time to perform tests for Covid in pharmacies in São Paulo.
Before, to take the test, it was enough to schedule for the same day. Now, it is common to have to wait at least two days and, in some cases, even five.
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The secretary admitted that Covid’s cases grew about 30% in the city in recent weeks. He recalled that preliminary analyzes pointed to the prevalence of about 50% of omicrons among those infected. The percentage may be even higher, since the sequencing numbers, released this Tuesday (4), carried out by the secretariat and by the Butantan Institute refer to the week of December 12th to 18th.
“With this test, we will be able to more accurately assess transmission through the variant,” stated Aparecido.
About the flu, the secretary admitted that there is a capacity. In the first three days of January alone, just over 20,000 calls were made to people with respiratory symptoms, of which 11,585 were suspected of Covid-19.
At AMA Sorocabana, in Lapa (western zone), the leaf showed that the wait for assistance reached five hours on Tuesday.
According to the secretariat, about 80% of the 406 beds at the Hospital Municipal da Brasilândia, in the north of the city, have patients with flu-like illness. Therefore, another 229 beds were reserved at the Hospital Municipal da Guarapiranga, in the southern region, only for people with flu symptoms.
As a result of the outbreak, in December 2021, 286,858 cases of people with respiratory symptoms were registered, against 111,949 cases of patients with flu-like symptoms in November, an increase of 156%.
Data from visits to the municipal health network show that suspected cases of Covid-19 were triggered. In November, there were 56,220 patients with symptoms. Last month, the number rose to 133,501 suspected coronaviruses, a high of 137.6%.
Currently, health facilities are vaccinating against Covid-19 and the flu. People, said the folder, can even take the two vaccines on the same day.
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