No RTPCR tests due to backlog, only antigen tests in public labs till Thursday

Nagpur: Citizens won’t be able to get an RTPCR test done till Thursday at any of the public testing or swab collection centres run by Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC).

On Sunday, the NMC issued a press release stating that these centres will perform only rapid antigen tests (RAT). Due to increasing Covid cases and rush at testing centres, all the four public labs at IGGMCH, AIIMS, GMCH and Nagpur University have huge backlog of results.

However, the NMC press release didn’t mention anything about CSIR Neeri lab, which has been using dry swab method. NMC officials said there is no backlog at that lab. Yet, it was not clear if Neeri lab would continue testing as it receives samples only from RPTS testing centre of NMC.

The decision to stop RTPCR on these days has been taken to clear the backlog. Beside round the clock load on PCR machines, it is also said the labs are unable to process samples due to lack of reagents. The district had been testing 20,000 samples in the last three days.

Public labs will also be closed on Tuesday due to Gudhi Padwa, so sample collected on Monday and Wednesday will be subjected to RAT only.

On Sunday, the civil surgeon data showed the district had processed over 26,000 samples including more than 10,000 antigen tests and as many tests in private labs. The four public labs processed close to 6,000 samples.

NMC officials said still nearly 2,000 samples are pending in each of the four labs and therefore the next three days would be utilized to clear the backlog.

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They said citizens would get the antigen test report next day but bulk messages would be sent by evening regarding Covid status.

Last week, TOI has reported twice regarding the heavy rush and delay of 3-4 days in getting test reports. Not just public labs, rush and delays are also seen in private labs where result is not available for 24 to 48 hours.

Zero pendency at Neeri lab

Nagpur: The CSIR-NEERI lab has no sample pending even though its daily capacity was stretched to 300 to 400 samples. In fact, the lab continues to maintain its record of reporting results in less than 3 hours each day. “Our efficiency is high in Covid testing despite the additional responsibility of sequencing positive samples to understand the dynamics of variants,” said Dr Krishna Khairnar, scientist and head, virology & Covid-19 testing centre, CSIR-NEERI, Nagpur. Neeri is processing dry swab RTPCR, which is the only ICMR approved testing centre in the country where this technique for nCov samples is in use for routine testing.