Fighting COVID-19: Govt Issues Guidelines For Pooled Sampling Of Returnees

New Delhi: The Union Health ministry issued guidelines for RT-PCR pooled sampling for specific citizens to test for coronavirus.

A decision has been taken to use one-time RT-PCR based pooled sampling for surveillance purposes vis-à-vis migrant workers in institutional quarantine facilities, international passengers in institutional quarantine facilities/hotels earmarked for quarantine and for surveillance purposes in green zones (districts with no case/no case reported in last 21 days).

Following are the guidelines to be followed for pooling of samples:

1) A cohort of 25 people will be identified

2) Throat/nasal swab will be collected following laid-down protocol by trained laboratory personnel under appropriate protective gear (apron, hand glove, face-shield/goggles, N-95 mask), as per ICMR protocol

3) Proper labelling (name/age/gender/specimen ID) to be done on specimen container

4) 25 samples of such cohort would be packed in triple layer packaging and transported to the identified laboratory under cold-chain as per ICMR guidelines. The outer container mentioning “be tested for SARS-CoV-2” will also bear the details of sender (name/address/phone number)

5) The samples will be aliquoted and thereafter pooled samples from 25 specimens shall be tested in the laboratory by RT-PCR method

6) The report will be conveyed to the quarantine/concerned facility within 24 hours

7) If any of the pooled samples tests positive, individual samples would be tested from the aliquoted samples preserved in the laboratory.