NEW DELHI : The Centre on Thursday directed states to mandatorily retest symptomatic but negative covid-19 cases through RT-PCR method, considered the gold standard for coronavirus diagnosis.
The move came after the health ministry noted that in some large states where symptomatic cases showed negative result with Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) were not being followed up with RT-PCR testing.According to the guidelines issued by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the health ministry, two specific categories of persons must necessarily be retested through RT-PCR tests -- all symptomatic but negative cases with fever, cough or breathlessness tested with RAT, and asymptomatic negative cases of RAT who develop symptoms within two-three.