HC: Submit report on sero-study in Delhi by July 16

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to file its report on the results and analysis of antibody testing, also called sero surveillance, carried out in the national capital by July 16. It also asked the Delhi government to state the number of persons who tested negative after undergoing the antigen test and then were made to take the RT/PCR test.

A bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Subramonium Prasad directed NCDC to place the test results before it by July 16 and said the report must include analysis of the results. They also directed the director of NCDC to be present on the next date of hearing to assist the court.

The court’s direction came after the Delhi government additional standing counsel Satyakam submitted that they had collected 21,793 antibody samples from the city from June 27 to July 5 and had sent these to NCDC, which had not given the results to date.

During the hearing, Satyakam told the court that he had called the director of NCDC on Sunday, July 12. However, the official alleged that the counsel should not have made the call and instead said that the concerned department should write to NCDC.

On this, the bench told additional solicitor general (ASG) Chetan Sharma and central government standing counsel Anurag Ahluwalia, who is representing the ministry of health, that the court would not take such kind of “red-tapeism” and asked them to ensure the NCDC director is present on the next date, July 16.

The central government counsels then said they would look into the matter and that the officer should not have spoken like that. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) was asked to file an updated affidavit indicating the applications it received from private hospitals and labs in Delhi seeking authorisation to carry out the rapid antigen test.