COVID-19 Covid tests falling, need to ramp up: Centre directs states
New Delhi/IBNS: Just a week after elaborating on the conditions that do not require COVID-19 tests, the Centre on Tuesday said the number of coronavirus tests in the country has fallen and needed to be ramped up.
Flagging the declining tests in many states and union territories, the centre has asked them to ramp up testing to keep an effective track of the pandemic.
In a letter to states and union territories, Additional Secretary in the Union Health Ministry Arti Ahuja has advised them to pay attention to the issue of testing and to increase the same keeping in view the trend of case positivity in specific areas.
She also highlighted that the highly infectious Omicron variant is currently spreading across the country.
"However, it is seen from the data available on the ICMR portal that testing has declined in many states and union territories," she wrote.
She said in all advisories on testing issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), including the latest on Jan 10, the basic objective remains early detection of cases for quick isolation and care.
