Health Ministry asks states to mandatorily retest all symptomatic rapid antigen negative cases
New Delhi: The Union Health Ministry has asked all states and UTs to mandatorily retest all symptomatic negative cases of rapid antigen tests through RT-PCR so that no positive COVID-19 cases are missed in order to curb the spread of the infection.
The ministry has also urged them to urgently establish a monitoring mechanism via a designated officer or team in every district and at the state level for follow up on such cases.
These teams shall analyse details of the rapid antigen tests (RAT) conducted on a daily basis in the districts and states and ensure that there are no delays in retesting of all the symptomatic negative cases.
The ministry said it has noted that in some large states, symptomatic cases tested negative by RAT are not being followed up by RT-PCR testing.
The Guidelines of ICMR as well as the Union Health Ministry clearly state that all symptomatic (with fever, cough or breathlessness) negative cases of RAT and asymptomatic cases of RAT that develop symptoms within two to three days of being tested negative must necessarily be retested through RT-PCR tests.
"In this background, the Union Health Ministry and ICMR have jointly written to all the states and UTs and urged them to ensure that the all symptomatic negative cases of RAT are mandatorily retested using the RT-PCR test," the health ministry said.
"This is necessary to ensure that such symptomatic negative cases do not remain untested and do not spread the disease among their contacts," it said.
The ministry said this will also ensure early detection, isolation and hospitalization of such "false" negative cases. It has also been reiterated in the joint letter that while the RAT is being used to increase access and availability of testing in the field, RT-PCR remains the gold standard of COVID tests, the ministry said.
It has also urged the states and UTs to urgently establish a monitoring mechanism in every district (via a designated officer or a team) and at the state level to follow up on such cases.
These teams shall analyse details of RAT conducted on a daily basis in the districts and state and ensure that there are no delays in retesting of all symptomatic negative cases, the ministry said.
"The aim of states and UTs should be to ensure that no potentially positive case is missed out. They have also been advised to undertake an analysis on a regular basis to monitor the incidence of positives during the RT-PCR tests conducted as a follow up," it said.
The country saw a record single day spike of 95,735 infections and 1,172 fatalities, pushing India's COVID-19 caseload to 44,65,863 and death toll to 75,062, while the recoveries surged to 34,71,783 on Thursday, according to the Union health ministry data.
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Confident we are going to win Kerala: Shashi Tharoor
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday expressed confidence in the victory of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala, saying the Congress-led alliance will win more than 75 seats out of the total 140 in the state.
Tharoor, who hails from Kerala, said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls, most of which predicted a victory for the UDF that has been out of power for 10 years in the state.
"We have been on the ground. I have campaigned in 59 constituencies across 12 districts out of 14. I was very confident we are going to win.
"Everything that I have picked up from not just my party colleagues and workers but also from other observers, media and others have always convinced me that we were going to score a comfortable win of above 75 seats. And all the (exit) polls have confirmed the same thing," he told reporters here.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls but in general he was not a big fan of exit polls in India.
"Because ours is not purely a homogenous society. We have to take into account gender issue, caste issue, class issue, regional disparities. You never get a convincingly large enough sample to give an accurate poll and now there is the additional complication that we have heard about in West Bengal this year that many people are unwilling to answer the questions of the pollsters," he said.
The Congress leader said normally, it used to be below 10 per cent that people said that they would not answer.
"Even if you are a reputable exit pollster, in Bengal, one polling company has said 60 per cent of people refused to answer. So, what is the worth of a poll where 60 per cent of your respondents have not answered," he said.
Several exit polls on Wednesday predicted a comeback by the Congress-led UDF in Kerala after 10 years, dethroning the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF).
Polling for the 140-member Kerala assembly was held on April 9. Results of assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Puducherry, besides Kerala, will be announced on May 4.
