A day after removing the clause pertaining to testing of those who have died with history of ILI or SARI symptoms from the testing guidelines, the State Health Department on Wednesday said the clause has been restored.
“We are continuing to do COVID test among deaths with history of ILI or SARI symptoms. The clause was restored on Tuesday following directions from the government of India. Swabs will be taken within 6 hours of death for testing,” Jawaid Akhtar, Additional Chief Secretary (Health and Family Welfare), told The Hindu .
“If test result comes positive for COVID-19, all close contacts will be tested as primary contacts. The State is committed to testing more and controlling transmission of COVID-19,” he said.
Later in the day, an order to this effect was also issued. Sources said the decision to not test those who died with with ILI and SARI history had been taken after an oral advisory from the Union Health Secretary through a videoconference. Neither the State’s technical advisory committee had made any such recommendation nor was there a written communication from the Centre on this, sources said.
Moreover, the ICMR had not issued any guidelines that advise against testing of those who died with ILI and SARI history and Karnataka till two days ago had been testing those who died. The body of Kannada film actor Chiranjeevi Sarja had also been tested.
C.N. Manjunath, director of Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences who is also the nodal officer for labs and testing in the State’s COVID-19 task force, said it was important that those who died with ILI or SARI history too be tested as many cases had tested positive after their deaths.
Testing the dead was important, as the actions that follow it, including contact tracing, testing and quarantining of the contacts of the deceased is crucial, he said.
