Told Health Min that prescription not be asked for Covid test: Kejriwal

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said he has directed Health minister Satyendar Jain that doctor's prescription should not be asked for COVID-19 testing in Delhi.

Earlier in the day, the Delhi High Court ordered that doctor's prescription will not be mandatory from now for those going voluntarily for RT/PCR test to detect COVID-19 infection in the national capital.

Till now, it was mandatory for a person to produce a doctor's prescription or symptoms to get tested for the virus.

Kejriwal said he directed Jain in the morning that doctor's prescription should not be asked for COVID-19 testing.

"Delhi government has increased testing multi-fold. I have directed Health Minister this morning that Doctor's prescription shud not be asked for testing. Anyone can get himself tested," the chief minister tweeted.

The High Court said people need to carry Aadhaar card for Delhi address proof and fill up a form as prescribed by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for COVID-19 testing.

The court noted that there was a sharp increase in the number of cases in Delhi and asked private laboratories to allow 2,000 COVID-19 tests a day for those who want to undergo the voluntarily screening.

In view of recent increase in COVID-19 positive cases, Delhi government had earlier said that it is scaling up the number of daily tests to 40,000 daily.

Majority of the COVID-19 tests being conducted are rapid antigen tests that give results quickly.