The Union government has directed states to set up 24x7 rapid Covid testing booths at convenient locations to facilitate early testing and quick isolation in case of a surge in cases.
The move comes at a time when several countries are struggling to keep up with the Covid-19 testing demand after the Omicron variant sent their outbreaks spiralling into record number of cases.
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In a letter written to states and union territories on Friday, the chief of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Balram Bhargava, and Union health secretary, Rajesh Bhushan, said: “Multiple rapid antigen test (RAT) booths must be set up in identified geographies and operationalized on a 24x7 basis to offer widespread testing and easier access to all citizens.”
The directive also says in case of a surge, all fever cases with or without other Covid-like symptoms must be tested for Covid-19.
“It is also emphasised that during the current upsurge of Covid-19 cases, any individual presenting with fever with/without cough, headache, sore throat, breathlessness, body ache, recent loss of taste or smell, fatigue and diarrhoea should be considered as suspect case of Covid-19 unless proven otherwise by confirmation of another etiology. All such individuals must be tested,” the guidelines read.
{{/usCountry}}“It is also emphasised that during the current upsurge of Covid-19 cases, any individual presenting with fever with/without cough, headache, sore throat, breathlessness, body ache, recent loss of taste or smell, fatigue and diarrhoea should be considered as suspect case of Covid-19 unless proven otherwise by confirmation of another etiology. All such individuals must be tested,” the guidelines read.
{{/usCountry}}People need to remain in home isolation and follow government guidelines till the time test results come.
Several parts of the country are now recording a large surge in numbers as well as test positivity rate. The surge is expected to pressure the testing capacity as well as contact-tracing efforts.
As of now, India has a network of 3,117 molecular testing laboratories, with a capacity of at least 2 million tests per day.
Rapid tests have been allowed at government and private health care facilities including all hospitals, dispensaries, nursing homes, clinics, district hospitals, primary health centers etc. No accreditation is required for undertaking rapid antigen testing by any health care facility, according to the centre’s directive.
To run the booths efficiently, states have been asked to engage appropriate medical and paramedical staff specifically for the testing booths, at convenient locations.
According to experts, rapid test works well during the surge scenario. “When case load is high, it will show in the rapid test as positives are true positives. For large scale testing in such a scenario this works well to identify and isolate infected persons,” said Dr Amita Jain, head of microbiology department, King George’s Medical University, Lucknow.
The new guidelines also encourage use of self-tests or home tests for symptomatic individuals; and seven such home testing kits have been approved so far, with two of them also available on government e marketplace (GeM) launched by the ministry of commerce.
The states have been asked to put emergency procurement procedures in place to avoid facing any shortage during the peak of cases.
“It is necessary to institute emergency procurement procedures to facilitate unhindered supply of diagnostic commodities for Covid-19 in your state/UT. You may appropriately refine the state procurement procedures for emergency procurement from market to expedite the process,” read the guidelines.