Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) on Thursday urged Kolkatans who want to get tested for Covid to undergo an RT-PCR test so that the result is noted in government records.
Those who are testing positive using a self-test kit at home should notify the result to the KMC.
KMC officials said deputy mayor Atin Ghosh asked them at a meeting on Thursday to ensure that people got tested in laboratories and had a Covid test report with them.
“Ghosh said results of those who test positive for Covid should be with the government so they can be tracked,” said an official.
The civic body will conduct awareness campaigns urging people to visit government facilities and get tested if they have any symptoms for Covid, officials said.
The KMC will also speak to residents’ welfare associations and tell them to inform the civic body if any resident tests positive in a home-test.
“We get requests for hospitalisation when a patient’s condition worsens. But the basic requirement for admission is a Covid positive report,” said a KMC official.
The Telegraph reported on Thursday that self-testing and no-testing were leading to worsening of the condition of many Covid patients.
“The protocol clearly says that someone testing positive in a home test, which is a rapid antigen test (RAT), will be considered as positive. Someone testing negative but having symptoms should undergo an RT-PCR test,” said a public health expert.
A number of people are self-testing but are not uploading the results on a mobile app, as a result of which they remain beyond the KMC’s monitoring.
The positive results of home-tests can be added to the government’s records if the persons undergoing such tests upload the results on the mobile app mentioned in the user manual of the kit.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the country’s apex biomedical research body, has approved home testing. The ICMR’s website has a list of such kits, along with the names of the manufacturers, that it has approved for use.
“Everyone using a home-testing kit should download the app mentioned in the user manual of the kit and follow the process mentioned in the manual. A positive result in a home-test will be considered official. Someone who tests positive will be able to download the report from ICMR’s website,” said ICMR spokesperson K. Sharma.
A guideline issued by the ICMR mentions that “data in the app of your mobile phone will be centrally captured in a secure server which is connected with the ICMR COVID-19 testing portal, where all data will be eventually stored”.
But the problem lies in the fact that most people undergoing home-tests are not uploading the details on the app, as a result of which the authorities are not able to access them.
The state health department has also asked the KMC and government hospitals to note down the phone numbers of the people who are being tested in their laboratories.
In the absence of proper contact details, it is becoming difficult to track people testing positive.