Half of Dasa’s Covid tests have a positive result

About half of the Covid tests carried out by hospitals and laboratories of the Dasa network, the largest integrated health network in Brazil, tested positive in the last week.

Between January 10 and 16, 2022, the weekly average of tests pointing to coronavirus infection in patients was 49.5%. In the previous week, from January 3 to 9, that number had already reached 40%.

In São Paulo, the average went from 42.7% to 50% in the same period, while in Rio de Janeiro, this number went from 48% in the first week of the year to 53.7% last week.

In the same period, there was a drop from 23% to 12.9% in the positive results of influenza in Brazil. Test volume of this type also dropped 31% from the previous week.

Coinfection cases, that is, when the patient was diagnosed with Covid-19 and the flu at the same time, dropped from 3% to 1.1%. There were 335 cases of co-infection (also called “flurona”), 304 of them in January.

Dasa is the network responsible for laboratories Lavoisier, Delboni Auriemo, Salomão Zoppi, among others, as well as hospitals such as Nove de Julho and Santa Paula. There are more than 900 units throughout Brazil, with brands also in Argentina and Uruguay.

The growth in demand and in the number of positive results in Covid-19 tests is a pattern that repeats itself, as observed by the network.

Between December 29th and January 4th, that is, in the New Year period, the average of positives was 26%, but it rose to 42.6% between January 5th and 11th. The volume of RT-PCR tests grew by 81% in the period.

There was, however, a reduction in the number of influenza cases, from 34.4% to 20.7%. The demand for tests, on the other hand, grew 77.7% in the same period. Covid and influenza coinfection cases remained stable at that time, rising from 2% to 2.8%.

The high demand even caused the network to limit Covid-19 and influenza tests to critically ill patients, health professionals and essential services. The laboratories and hospitals of the network, however, have already returned with the service in general, although hospitalized patients are still prioritized.

“These measures are being adopted to face the general shortage of supplies for these diagnostic tests and as a way to guarantee a safer and more agile flow of care for patients and companions”, said Dasa, in a note.

The measure follows part of the guidance of Abramed (Brazilian Association of Diagnostic Medicine), which recommended testing only in those who have severe symptoms, are hospitalized, have undergone surgery, are part of the risk group or are healthcare workers and employees. of essential services.

The entity’s recommendation is to stop testing those who have only had contact with infected, asymptomatic patients and people with mild symptoms, who should remain isolated until the scenario is normalized.

The demand for Covid tests has increased with the flu (influenza) outbreak and the increase in cases of the disease. Until Sunday (16), half of the private laboratories in SP only had guaranteed stock for another week, according to a survey by SindHosp (Union of Hospitals, Clinics and Laboratories of SP).

The union gathered data from 111 private laboratories in the state of SP and revealed that 88% of them were having difficulty replacing or replenishing Covid and Influenza test stocks.

At the same time, this Monday (17), the City of São Paulo had enough stocks for another 15 days, and announced the restriction of testing to the risk group, pregnant women, puerperal women, homeless people, health professionals, or people with at least two flu-like symptoms.

At least since the end of 2021, patients have had difficulty finding tests in São Paulo. Between the weeks of December 29 and January 3, Folha consulted the agenda of 40 drugstores belonging to large drugstore chains in the city. Before the holidays, it was possible to schedule the test for the same day. Then you had to wait up to five days to get an appointment.

The Raia Drogasil pharmacy chain even suspended online scheduling due to lack of supplies. Only units that had remnants could carry out the testing.

The lack of available tests for the diagnosis of Covid-19 drives the blackout of data on the disease in Brazil. The increase in demand and the number of positive cases is not reflected in the official figures made available by the government and also prevents knowing the size of the wave of contamination driven by the omicron variant.