kolkata as covid cases gallop in the state flyers provide a picture of the grim ground reality scores of them even though asymptomatic have been found to be positive in mandatory tests conducted before travel over the last fortnight many of those scheduled to undergo surgeries have tested positive as wellsome of these patients have developed mild symptoms several days after testing positive this according to doctors points at the fact that the virus has now acquired a less virulent form and is being resisted better due to a growing herd immunity since a majority of those being affected now are aged below 45 their immunity is stronger and is fighting the virus better they pointed outaround fourfive of those testing positive at peerless hospital every day are young professionals taking the test to travel they are being left surprised by the result and some are even refusing to believe that they have been infected they have no apparent symptom and are taking the test merely as a clearance to travel some are taking the test prior to elective surgeries said peerless hospital microbiologist bhaskar narayan choudhurywhile the rtpcr test has been mandatory for those travelling internationally either on business or to study several state governments have also made the test compulsory for travel from bengalflyers to bengaluru hyderabad jaipur jodhpur udaipur ahmedabad baroda and surat are required to furnish the rtpcr negative report prior to boarding the flight the test has to be done within 72 hours prior to the flights scheduled departure however for those travelling to port blair the test has to be done within 48 hours prior to departureseveral elective surgeries have been postponed at belle vue clinic after the patients tested positive these are young or middleaged people with no symptoms they need to get their surgeries that had been postponed due to the lockdown done so the test result is often coming as a surprise to them but we have no choice but to defer the surgery unless its an emergency one those looking to travel are obviously being left disappointed said belle vue internal medicine consultant rahul jainat amri hospitals too asymptomatic positives have outnumbered the symptomatic patients many have indeed been left surprised by the positive report and even requested for a second test said amri ceo rupak baruaat rn tagore international institute of cardiac sciences rtiics that conducts 200 tests a day positivity rate has crawled up from 25 in endfebruary to around 6 now we are getting a substantial number of asymptomatic patients just as we did exactly a year ago its too early to say if these patients outnumber those with symptoms said rtiics zonal head r venkateshone can no longer wait for symptoms to serve as an indicator said cmri hospital director of pulmonology raja dhar we are slowly acquiring herd immunity and vaccination is on so despite rapid transmission the disease will now be very mild for the vast majority of patients with