Flagging the issue of many states ‘restricting’ tests to identify Covid-19 cases, the Centre on Wednesday asked them to fully utilise the private laboratories and do away with the requirement of a test prescription by only government doctors.
In a letter sent out to state chief secretaries, Union health secretary Preeti Sudan and ICMR director general Dr Balram Bhargava said testing is a key tool to “contain the virus and save precious lives”.
The instructions come as the number of confirmed cases in the country reached 5,85,493 while the total deaths stand at 17,400. The test positivity rate in most states is high, indicating they may not be testing enough.
This story is from the July 2, 2020 edition of The Morning Standard.
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This story is from the July 2, 2020 edition of The Morning Standard.
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