The Center has asked states to decide on simplified modalities such as eliminating the need for prescription and establishing the testing method.
The Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) issued a notice on Friday asking states to allow people who wish to get tested and also to make it available to people taking domestic or international travel.
The notice is part of a revised Covid-19 testing strategy issued by the ICMR based on the recommendation of the National Covid-19 Task Force.
The notice says that on-demand testing should be allowed for “all persons who wish to be tested” and “all persons traveling to countries / states in India that require a negative test for Covid-19 at the point of entry.” .
TOI had reported on Aug. 19 that the government is considering revising its Covid-19 testing strategy to advise states to make it available on demand, as India has now increased testing capabilities and is also manufacturing test kits locally. test and reagents.
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With this strong exponential increase in daily testing, India has conducted a total testing of around 4.7 million rupees. She conducted over 11.7 lakhs of tests over two consecutive days on Wednesday and Thursday.
India’s substantial increase in testing levels is based on the daily expanding network of diagnostic laboratories across the country. To date, with 1025 laboratories in the government sector and 606 private laboratories, the national network is strengthened with 1631 laboratory facilities in total.
“Testing laboratories must ensure contact tracing and tracing mechanisms by notifying public health authorities,” the notice says.
Until now, the ICMR has advised states to test all symptomatic individuals. Furthermore, all SARI cases, asymptomatic direct contacts and high-risk positive cases, all hospitalized influenza patients (ILI), and all symptomatic ILI cases among returnees and migrants should be evaluated by RT-PCR.
Apart from this, antigen testing is performed in containment zones and healthcare settings that include asymptomatic high-risk contacts and hospitalized patients in addition to symptomatic cases.
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