High Court grills Telangana govt on low number of COVID-19 tests conducted

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court, on 8 May, questioned the state government about why more number of COVID-19 tests were not conducted in Telangana and asked the government to explain the rationale behind its decision to test only suspected cases and not the dead.

The court asked the government to submit a detailed report on its policy decision to test only people who showed primary symptoms of COVID-19 while imposing restrictions on collecting blood samples of dead people. It also asked the government to submit a detailed report on the total number of COVID-19 tests conducted in the state so far.

A division Bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice R.S Chauhan and Justice B. Abhishek Reddy passed these orders while dealing with a batch of PILs filed by various concerned citizens, including the vice-president of Telangana Jana Samithi Prof. P.L Visweswar Rao. In his petition, Prof. Rao urged the court to issue directions to the state government to provide requisite medical equipment to doctors and supporting staff and also meet the basic needs and minimum expenses of unorganised labourers, beggars, migrant workers, street children, and hostel students in the state.

The counsel for the petitioner told the HC that the state government should follow the ICMR guidelines to contain the spread of Corona virus in the state. He told the court that the state was not following the guidelines and had, in fact, decreased the number of tests being conducted in the state. While stating that the threat of community spread looms large over the people of Telangana, he urged the HC to direct the state government to increase the number of COVID-19 tests.

The Bench told advocate general B.S Prasad that all developed countries had increased the number of rapid tests and noted that US President Donald Trump has undergone the COVID-19 detection test twice. He asked the state how facts related to the pandemic would come to the fore unless the number of tests was increased. Replying to this, the advocate general sought time to respond. Following this, the HC adjourned the case till 14 May.