The government-run labs in Chandigarh will not allow on-demand testing of Covid-19.
In a fresh advisory released by the Indian Council of Medical Research on Friday, it has been recommended that any individual who wants to get tested should be allowed to do so.
On any such decision regarding on-demand testing in government-run labs, UT health secretary Arun Gupta, “It will not be available in government labs, however, private labs can test anyone.” Currently, three private labs are operational in the city.
At present, those reporting with Covid-19 symptoms and contacts of confirmed cases are being tested in the three government-run labs through various sampling centres.
UT adviser Manoj Parida said in addition to tests being conducted as per requirement, a few random tests were also conducted in city markets, but no one was found infected.
“On-demand testing is available in private facilities, while government-run facilities are exclusively for persons with symptoms and exposure to infected persons,” said Parida.
UT had earlier allowed private labs to RT-PCR tests for detecting Covid-19 without any prescriptions for a fixed fee of ₹2,000. So far, 34,369 tests have been conducted, out of which more than 5500 have returned positive suggesting a positivity ratio of more than 15%. Experts have called for more aggressive testing along with extensive contact tracing to bring the pandemic under control.