After Delhi and Gujarat, UP caps price of RT-PCR test by private labs

The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday slashed the price of RT-PCR test to detect the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) by private labs at Rs 700 and said it will cost Rs 900 if done at home, a day after Delhi and Gujarat governments also revised the rates of the tests. In September, the Uttar Pradesh government had revised the rates for Covid-19 tests conducted by private labs from Rs 2,500 to Rs 1,600.

According to the government, if a patient gives sample at the laboratory or the sample is collected by a hospital and sent to the lab the fee for the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction test will be Rs 700. And in case the lab gets their sample collected by its staff the rate will be Rs 900. These rates are inclusive of Goods and Services Tax (GST). Government hospitals are providing these tests free of cost, including RT-PCR and antigen tests.

The RT-PCR test was initially priced at Rs 4,500 and the rates were gradually brought down to Rs 2,500 and on September 10, the government decide the rate for private labs will be Rs 1600.

RT-PCR tests are accurate but have so far remained costly, and with higher turnaround times than rapid antigen tests. On the other hand, rapid antigen tests are often inaccurate when it comes to so-called false negatives, or giving negative results to people who may be Covid-19 positive.

Uttar Pradesh’s Covid-19 caseload reached 545,545 on Tuesday after 1,703 fresh cases were reported across the state and 29 more deaths pushed the toll to 7,788. The number of active cases of the coronavirus disease in the state stands at 23,670, while 5,14,087 people have recovered so far, a government bulletin said.

Of the new cases, 240 have been reported from Lucknow, followed by 156 from Meerut, 127 from Ghaziabad, 113 from Agra and 112 from Gautam Budh Nagar, a health department bulletin said. Lucknow recorded seven deaths, Meerut and Etawah three each, and Varanasi and Balrampur two each, it said.

More than 143,000 tests were done in the state on Monday, taking the number of total tests conducted to over 19.4 million.

The Gujarat government has reduced the price of RT-PCR tests conducted by private laboratories for Covid-19 to Rs 800 from Rs 1,500. In Delhi, the RT-PCR test will now cost Rs 800 at all private laboratories, down from Rs 2,400.

(With agency inputs)