New Delhi: The Delhi High Court today suggested that the Delhi government speed up its RT-PCR testing programme, because the Rapid Antigen Testing is unable to serve accurate COVID-19 reports.
A divisional bench comprising Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad, while hearing a petition through video conferencing, noted that the raid tests were 60 percent accurate and that creates doubts in the minds of asymptomatic people.
The petition has been filed by advocate Rakesh Malhotra, seeking direction for conducting rapid testing on a large scale in Delhi for the identification of the COVID-19 infected people.
The bench stated: “We are of the firm view that RT-PCR should be the way forward.” The bench directed the Delhi government to increase its capacity for RT-PCR testing.
The bench also took note of the fact that an expert committee has been set up by the Lt. Governor of Delhi to conduct a meeting prioritizing the increase in capacity of RT-PCR testing.
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It has been informed to the court that only one-fourth of the tests conducted last week were RT-PCR whereas, the rest were through the RAT process.
The bench has further directed the Delhi government to file a status report in this regard.
The matter is listed for further hearing on September 30.
-India Legal Bureau