In a significant order in the fight against the novel coronavirus, the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court on Thursday said the Centre and the State should now “seriously consider real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests for citizens, doctors, health workers, and police personnel, who are at the forefront of the war against COVID-19”.

A single Bench of Justice Manish Pitale, which was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) by Citizen Forum for Equality, a NGO, also said the government should consider undertaking rapid antibody tests as a matter of surveillance on residents living in hotspots so that those infected could be identified and quarantined.

The PIL also sought directions to the Indian Council of Medical Research to immediately frame guidelines for conducting RT-PCR tests.

Justice Pitale said the national lockdown was imposed to contain the spread of COVID-19. “It appears that such lockdown was part of the strategy to ensure that the virus did not spread rapidly and exponentially as found in certain countries,” the court said.