The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation will start pool testing on a pilot basis in fever clinics to help increase the capacity of existing testing labs.
The State government had recently sought permission for pool testing from the Central government and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
The method involves testing multiple swab samples in a single real time polymerase chain reaction test. If a batch tests positive then people whose samples are in it will be tested separately. Conversely, if a batch tests negative then all samples in it are negative.
Pool testing is advised in areas with low prevalence of COVID-19, but not for high-risk contacts as chances of them having the disease are high. Germany and Israel have already employed the method. Uttar Pradesh too has opted for it.
Municipal Commissioner Praveen Pardeshi said, “Pool testing will not be done for contacts, but it can be carried out in fever clinics where the rate of prevalence is low. I have given the go-ahead to try it experimentally, but ICMR has still not approved it. We will see what results we get.”