Scale up RT-PCR tests, follow ICMR rules, CM tells officials

nNEW DELHI: Two days after the Delhi high court had asked the Delhi government why it has made rapid antigen tests the primary form of testing in the national capital, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday directed officials to ramp up RT-PCR tests by adhering to guidelines laid down by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR).

The court had on Monday directed the Delhi government to “strictly” follow the Covid-19 testing guidelines issued by the apex health body, instead of interpreting the rules “on its own”. The court had also asked the Delhi government why it had conducted fewer than 6,000 RT-PCR tests a day between July 15 and July 23, despite having 54 laboratories that can conduct up to 11,000 tests per day.

Following this, Kejriwal on Wednesday held a review meeting, during which he directed all districts to ramp up the RT-PCR tests by testing all symptomatic persons whose rapid antigen samples returned negative.

Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)

tests are considered the gold standard to check for Covid-19.

“Existing guidelines say that if any patient’s antigen test is negative but has symptoms, RT-PCR test must be done on him. I directed the officers today to ensure strict compliance of these guidelines,” Kejriwal tweeted after the meeting.

In Monday’s order, the court also cited the results of the recent sero-survey, which showed that a majority of the 22.86% people were exposed to the infectious disease without even realising it, as they were probably asymptomatic. It also sought to know from the Delhi government why it preferred the rapid antigen method as the primary test, despite a high rate of false negatives.

On July 16, HT had reported that between June 18 and July 15, 1,365 (0.5%) of the 262,075 persons who tested negative in the rapid antigen tests were further administered the RT-PCR confirmatory tests. At the time, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia had said those cases were the only ones that were found to be symptomatic by the medical officers.

In an interview to HT on July 18, Kejriwal had said, “We do not have the capacity to double check those many people with an RT-PCR test. If you see today’s data – 14,000 were antigen tests and 7,000 were RT-PCR tests. We are already using our RT-PCR testing infrastructure to its full capacity. It is not in terms of kits and machines, capacity is also seen in terms of manpower. Even antigen tests are being conducted to its full capacity.”