Omicron Spread: Centre Tells States To Go For Rapid Antigen Test Of Persons With These Complaints

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New Delhi: With first Omicron death reported from Maharashtra and the highly-transmissible variant of coronavirus spreading to 23 states and Union Territories, the Centre on Friday told the states to increase rapid antigen test (RAT).

In a letter to all state and Union Territories, Union Health secretary Rajesh Bhusan said in the current upsurge, all individual having the symptoms must undergo the test. “Any individual presenting with fever with/without cough, headache, sore throat, breathlessness, bodyache, recent loss of taste or smell, fatigue and diarrhea should be considered as suspect case of COVID-19 unless proven otherwise by confirmation of another etiology,” India Today quoted him as saying.

Stating that such individuals must be tested, the Centre urged the states to increase RAT testing as RT-PCR testing leads to delays in confirming diagnosis due to its turnaround time of 5-8 hours.

The Health secretary also said self-testing should be encouraged for symptomatic persons.

Omicron tally shot up to 1,270 in the country on Friday as the new variant spread to 23 states and Union Territories with Bihar reporting its first case, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Also Read: India’s Omicron Cases Shoot Up To 1,270; New Variant Found In 23 States/UTs

The country’s first Omicron death was reported from Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC)’s Yashwantrao Chavan Hospital in Pune on Thursday. But the Maharashtra government has not categorically declared that the cause of death was the Omicron variant.

Also Read: India Records First Omicron Death: Reports