Gear up for more COVID-19 testing, process samples within 48 hrs: Delhi govt to labs, hospitals

The Delhi government has directed all laboratories and hospitals to work on their full potential and ramp up COVID-19 testing capacity to meet the increased demand for processing samples.

In an order issued on Sunday, Health Secretary Padmini Singla also called for processing the samples within a maximum of 48 hours.

"It has been decided to scale up lab testing immediately to effectively contain COVID-19 cases in Delhi. There is no upper limit to send samples to private sector labs, provided they undertake to process the same within the stipulated time frame, that is 24 hours (preferably) and maximum within 48 hours," the order said.

It also directed public and private sector laboratories "to work on their full potential and also further ramp up their testing capacity on priority to meet the increased demand of processing".

"All samples in the city are to be collected strictly in adherence to the testing strategy issued by ICMR. No sample to be picked without the use of RT PCR Application," the order added.

With a surge in COVID-19 cases, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had on Sunday announced that testing will be doubled in Delhi in the next two days and subsequently increased by three times.

Announcing a slew of measures to check the spread of the infection in the national capital after he held a meeting with Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Shah said COVID-19 tests will be started at every polling station in containment zones and a comprehensive house-to-house health survey will be conducted in the hotspots for contact tracing.

On Sunday, Delhi recorded 2,224 fresh coronavirus cases in the highest single-day spike, taking the tally to over 41,000 while the death toll mounted to 1,327.