No Covid test needed for healthy inter-state travellers, Centre tells states

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The central government has revised the country's rules for Covid-19 tests as domestic labs are being overwhelmed and test results of infected persons are being held up.</p>
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"Healthy" inter-state travellers and Covid patients being discharged from hospitals after recovery must not be tested, the Centre has said in a circular issued to all state governments.</p>
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The centre said the over 2,500 labs in the country are working under tremendous pressure because of the rapidly growing caseloads.</p>
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"The need for RT-PCR test in healthy individuals undertaking inter-state domestic travel may be completely removed to reduce the load on laboratories," the circular states.</p>
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"No testing is required for COVID-19-recovered individuals at the time of hospital discharge," it added.</p>
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The centre said people who tested positive once – either by rapid tests or the gold standard RT-PCR – must not be tested again.</p>
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Non-essential travel of people with Covid symptoms should be avoided to reduce the risk of infection, the government added.</p>
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All asymptomatic individuals undertaking essential travel must follow Covid-appropriate behaviour.</p>
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Reports of RT-PCR test results getting delayed by several days have emerged from many Covid-hit states. This in turn delays the treatment of coronavirus patients and is weakening the fight against the deadly pandemic.</p>
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More and more people are now also being forced to opt for expensive CT-scans that can detect signs of the infection in lungs.</p>
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India has been reporting over 3 lakh daily coronavirus cases for over a week. On Tuesday, the country's single-day Covid numbers were 3.35 lakh cases and 3,449 deaths in 24 hours.</p>