Covid labs told to collect address proof, OTP before collecting sample

Gurgaon: MCG has asked every private Covid testing lab to ask people to submit their permanent address proof and the OTP generated on their registered mobile numbers before collecting their sample. The decision was taken as authorities have been finding it difficult to trace people who have tested positive. Around 100 people who had submitted their samples to private labs, almost all of whom have tested positive, are now untraceable in Gurgaon.
According to MCG officials, people are submitting fake mobile numbers and addresses to the labs while submitting their samples. “This is a big concern as they might be infecting more people. We have already informed the police regarding the same and action is being taken against such people,” said a health department official.
Dr Ashish Singla, medical officer, MCG, said, “We have teams who are calling each person to verify the details and even visiting the homes of suspected patients to check their address. We are sharing data with the police department to trace people who we are unable to contact.”
The district administration on Friday also asked all private labs to update details of people they are testing for Covid on the central government RT (PCR) mobile application. This came after it was observed that while the government labs are following the mandatory process, private labs are not recording necessary details like name, age, address, mobile number, duration of symptoms or contact with Covid patient, making it difficult to track of suspected patients.
Amit Khatri, district magistrate, Gurgaon, issued an order on Friday that, “it is mandatory for all the registered sample collection centres or testing labs to immediately start using the RT (PCR) application ensuring real-time sample data collection. This app is meant to be used by sample collectors to enter details of the sample being collected for Covid-19 RT-PCR test.”
At the time of collection, the labs have to mention on the app the date since which a suspected patient has been experiencing Covid symptoms and if they have come in contact with anyone with the infection, apart for the person’s address and phone number. The app, thus, becomes a national database of Covid samples being analysed.
It also allows the labs and the administrations to track every stage of the testing of a sample till the results are in.
“We have asked labs to update the required data timely and to ensure that they gather all vital information before collecting samples,” said Singla.
MCG was recently given the responsibility of handling issues related to Covid-19 samples and to provide data to other departments to carry out contact tracing of positive patients.