New Delhi:
The Delhi government has asked all districts to retest all symptomatic patients, who have tested negative for COVID-19 on rapid antigen test, using the more reliable RT-PCR method, after it found the process was not followed in over 1,400 cases.
“Total 1,437 antigen negative symptomatic who have not undergone RT-PCR. Kindly ensure that this is made NIL from today i.e. from today onwards there should be no antigen negative symptomatic case who is not tested for RT-PCR,” read a directive by Special Secretary (Health and Family Welfare) Udit Prakash Rai to all districts.
The directive was issued on Thursday.
According to the government, Northwest district had the maximum 870 cases where symptomatic antigen negatives were not followed up with an RT-PCR test by Wednesday. In Southwest district, 258 symptomatic persons were not tested using the RT-PCR method after testing negative in rapid antigen tests.
The Delhi government is working out modalities to ramp up RT-PCR testing, officials said Wednesday, a week after the high court suggested increasing the capacity to maximum as rapid antigen tests were found to be accurate in only 60 per cent cases.
Yet, the number of RT-PCR tests has not shown an increase with the figures hovering around the 10,000 mark.
On September 17, the number of RT-PCR tests conducted stood at 9,564. The next day, it was 11,203.
The number of tests conducted on September 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 stood at 10,681, 11,322, 8828, 9,459 and 10,359, respectively.
–3,827 fresh COVID-19 cases take Delhi’s tally past 2.64 lakh-
Delhi recorded 3,827 fresh coronavirus cases on Friday, taking its caseload to over 2.64 lakh, while 24 fatalities pushed the death toll to 5,147, authorities said.
The city’s infection tally stands at 2,64,450, while there are 30,867 active cases.
There are a total of 2,124 containment zones in the national capital.
Health Minister Satyendar Jain held a meeting with medical directors and superintendents of all Delhi government hospitals to review the status of testing.
A total of 59,134 tests were conducted the previous day. The positivity rate in Delhi stands at 6.47 per cent.
The chief secretary also held a review meeting with all district magistrates on COVID-19 management.
