Plea for allowing rapid and random testing for prevention of COVID-19 filed in Delhi HC

A PIL has been filed in the Delhi High Court seeking direction to the government in the national capital to conduct rapid and random testing of any person showing any COVID-19 symptom.

A PIL has been filed in the Delhi High Court seeking direction to the government in the national capital to conduct rapid and random testing of any person showing any COVID-19 symptom. The PIL moved by three practicing lawyers Abhay Gupta, Anupam and Prashant Arora also seeks quashing of Delhi government's order dated June 2, which issued new guidelines for COVID-19 testing and made the testing criteria in Delhi tighter than those issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on May 18 and restricted the access to COVID-19 testing for the public at large.

The petitioners in the plea said that the respondent through Director General of the Health Service is allowing the testing of only symptomatic persons, and asymptomatic individuals are "restricted" from being tested. It also mentioned that the Delhi government's order further restricts the testing for direct and high-risk contact.

"The change will only make it more difficult for asymptomatic people that have been exposed to infected people to be tested. Though earlier, family members living in the same house or doctors and health care workers exposed to a COVID-19 patient were tested even if they were asymptomatic. However, under the "impugned order" only those asymptomatic patients who are high-risk contacts (diabetic, hypertension, cancer patients, and senior citizens) of a confirmed case will be tested," plea said. The petition copy, which likely to come for hearing on June 9 also added that the respondent should test more people, not less as the number of COVID-19 cases are rapidly increasing and the government is planning to remove the lockdown slowly.

"Instead, the respondent has made COVID-19 testing more restrictive. This is also completely in contravention of what the experts from the national medical research body ICMR say," it said. The impugned order restricting the access to COVID-19 testing to the public at large is in "clear violation" of Right to Health guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution of India and the same is also in clear violation of Article 14 of the Constitution of India, the plea added. (ANI)

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