Private labs allowed to conduct Covid test
Tally rises by 79 in a day to 315 as worries of community spread mount
nNEW DELHI: The government allowed private laboratories to test for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) on Saturday as the number of patients soared by 79, its sharpest daily spike yet, to cross 300 and triggered concerns that the disease was entering a deadly third phase of the outbreak.
The Union ministry of health and welfare order opening up testing for Covid-19 to private laboratories — until now, only government facilities were permitted — came after days of appeal by experts to widen testing in order to accurately understand the extent of the outbreak.
The order, signed by health secretary Preeti Sudan, didn’t expand the conditions for testing. Only those in contact with a previously confirmed patient, health workers showing symptoms of Covid-19 and patients hospitalised with Severe Acute Respiratory Illness can be tested.
The maximum cost of the test cannot exceed ~4,500 – this includes ~1,500 for a screening test and ~3,000 for a confirmation test. “The ICMR encourages free or subsidized testing in this hour of national public health emergency,” the order read.
The facilities need at least biosafety level-2 certification, and are required to share real-time testing data with the government. The facilities will need to collect a government identity card to confirm the current address and phone number of a patient at the time of sample collection.
“Preferably home collection of samples may be done…this will help avoid the contact of people with the suspect case during local travel to the laboratory,” the order read.
Testing can be done only after a prescription signed by a qualified physician who has followed criteria laid down by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the country’s top medical research body.
Only laboratories certified by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration are eligible.
“The government has been working on engaging private players in its mission to fight the coronavirus disease outbreak since the beginning. It is one of the preparedness strategies to involve private players in cases numbers rise significantly that would need pooling of all available resources be it testing, isolation, management, etc,” said a senior Union health ministry official, requesting anonymity.
The official refused to specify