With Delhi testing only 50 per cent of its RT-PCR capacity of 11,000 per day & rapid antigen testing (RAT) throwing up a high rate of false-negative results, the HC asked the AAP Govt on Monday why it wasn't ramping up the “gold standard test” as per the guidelines of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
A bench of Justice Hima Kohli & Justice Subramonium Prasad took note of the preliminary findings of Delhi’s first round of serological tests conducted by National Centre For Disease Control (NCDC) that showed over 22 per cent of population had the virus without even realising it or due to false negatives.
The Court said the surveillance had shown the wide prevalence in certain areas where accurate testing needs to be ramped up, for which RT-PCR should be the front line test.
Delhi HC is hearing a petition for increasing testing numbers in Delhi & getting speedy results from laboratories/hospitals.
The Bench pointed out that about 11,000 tests through RT-PCR could be conducted on a daily basis in 54 assigned private & public sector laboratories. According to the AAP Govt’s submission, the daily count between July 15 & 23 is below 6,000.
“In other words, almost 50% capacity of RT-PCR tests is not being conducted in Delhi. The focus seems to be mainly on testing through RAT whereas RT-PCR is the gold standard test,” the bench observed. According to the Govt’s status report, during the same period, 1,21,950 rapid antigen tests have been conducted, while the RT-PCR count is 47,276.
The Court also took on record the stand of NCDC director Dr Sujeet Singh who said the prevalence of cases from the sero report indicated that higher the density of population in a district, larger the number of cases of Covid-19 infection. As a short-term measure, NCDC recommends increasing tests through the RT-PCR mode, the bench pointed out.
According to the NCDC director, for those admitted or proposed to undergo surgical/non-surgical procedures in hospitals, RAT should be followed for faster results to expedite treatment.
Nivedita Gupta, an ICMR scientist, clarified to the high court that it was never the council’s stand that RT-PCR tests be replaced with RAT. The ICMR advisory, she added, is to conduct RAT in containment zones/hotspots & healthcare settings.
On Monday, it also emerged that the AAP Govt had included severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) in its list of high-risk group individuals who have to first undergo RAT. Delhi Govt’s additional standing counsel, Satyakam, told the bench that the health department was strictly adhering to the ICMR guidelines, which say people testing negative for RAT but showing influenza like illness (ILI) have to undergo RT-PCR.
But the ICMR scientist maintained that RAT was not required to be conducted on patients suffering from SARI & they were to be tested directly through RT-PCR. The high court then ordered the Govt of Delhi to amend its earlier orders & remove any reference to patients admitted with SARI to undergo RAT. Delhi Govt must “strictly” follow the guidelines on Covid-19 testing as issued by ICMR & not according to its own interpretation, it pointed out.
The HC bench directed ICMR to place before the Court its next advisory, in view of the sero survey, on testing strategy & listed the matter for further hearing on Aug 4.
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