ICMR: Accredited pvt labs can conduct Covid-19 tests

The government on Tuesday decided to increase the number of testing labs from 52 to 125 by allowing accredited private labs also to conduct Covid-related tests. The government has made it clear that the tests should be done only when prescribed by a qualified physician, as per ICMRNIV norms, and free of cost.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said that it will share the

SOPs for testing and provide positive controls for establishing the test as soon as the concerned private laboratory procures the primers, probes and reagents.

“Adoption of commercial kits for testing should be based on validations conducted by ICMRNational institute of Virology (NlV), Pune and appropriate bio-safety and bio-security precautions should be ensured while collecting samples from a suspect patient,” the ICMR guidelines said.

It added that a disease specific separate collection site should be created and all private testing laboratories have to ensure immediate/ real-time reporting to the state officiats of IDSP and ICMR for timely initiation of contact tracing and research activities.

Guidelines have also been issued for dead body management towards standard precautions, infection prevention and control measures, handling of the body and environmental disinfection. The government also said that guidelines on

Clinical Management of Covid-19 triage (early recognition of patients), implementation of infection prevention and control measures have been revised and updated.

The Union health ministry has set a process for notifying Covid-19 affected persons by private institutions saying each and every case whether suspected or confirmed should be isolated and provided appropriate treatment and their contacts traced at the earliest to break the chain of transmission.