‘Private laboratories must inform health officials of positive cases’

They were told to collect only prescribed fees and avoid pooling of samples

All private laboratories approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) have been asked to immediately notify local health officials of all COVID-19 positive cases so that containment measures can be taken, according to the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine.

Director of Public Health T.S. Selvavinayagam on Tuesday conducted a review of the performance of these laboratories through video-conference. They were told to collect only the prescribed fees, avoid pooling of samples and update all data on the ICMR portal.

He said healthcare workers should be protected because of the high rate of transmissibility of the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus. Surprise checks with an inventory audit would be done, if needed. All standard operating procedures should be followed to ensure the quality of investigations and more human resources should be engaged to avoid any backlog when the number of tests increased, he said.