Delhi witnesses less RTPCR testing compared to last few weeks

As COVID cases tend to plummet, Delhi witnessed a decline in RTPCR tests this week compared to the past three weeks.

The labs in the national capital are having less than 3,000 RTPCR testings this week compared to approx 4,000 in the last few weeks. Lab owners told ANI that more people are now opting for home self-testing kits.

In the last few weeks when COVID cases were high, more than 4,000 RTPCR samples were collected per day at the lab. However, the testings reduced to around 2,800 per day this week, said a lab owner.

Speaking to ANI, Dr Arvind Lal, executive chairman, Dr Lal PathLabs Ltd said, "RTPCR testing has come down which is definitely a good sign. A week back, our All India per day collections were around 12,000 which has now come down to 9,000, which is approx 25 per cent less. In Delhi where we were testing 3,600 samples every day earlier, now the testing decreased to approximately 2,800 each day."

The public relations officer of another leading lab said, "Initially the situation was completely unknown and people started panicking. This led to an increase in testing. Even people who were having viral fevers wanted to get tested. Now the situation has turned better and the testing has reduced at least by 25 to 30 per cent in Delhi as compared to the last few weeks. Moreover, many are opting for home self-testing kits."

Dr DS Rana, chairman, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Delhi, said that RTPCR testing has reduced as the panic phase has gone and relatively less severity of the present variant of coronavirus.

"The number of COVID cases are coming down altogether but we must also not overlook the home testing kits which people are opting more now after the panic phase has slid off. Also, due to the less severity of the disease, people are not opting for such tests. They are isolating themselves and taking precautions," Dr Rana told ANI.

Delhi registered a decline in its daily COVID caseload as it reported 4,044 new infections in the last 24 hours with a positivity rate of 8.60 per cent. According to the health bulletin of the Delhi government on Friday, the national capital has currently 29,152 active COVID cases.