Lab technician takes vaginal swab for Covid test, held

AMRAVATI: A lab technician at a hospital in Amravati, Maharashtra, has been arrested on rape charges for taking genital swabs of a 24-year-old woman to test for Covid-19.
On July 29, the woman, a worker at a mall, went to the hospital along with 20 co-workers after they were asked to give swab samples as one of their colleagues had tested positive earlier.
Alkesh Ashokrao Deshmukh, a contractual lab technician, first took a nose-swab and then told her she had tested positive and another swab from her private parts was needed for further tests. When the girl asked for a female technician, he said there was none. He then took her to a room and took swabs from her private parts. He later told her that she had tested negative. After finding out that genital swabs are not taken for Covid tests, she filed a police complaint.