From today, Mumbai opens Covid tests for all, no prescription needed LAXMANSINGH MAHARASHTRA renee —a INADictoMake MECC Best seamless andaccessble"toalin Mumba, the srinanmumbat Municipal Corporation (EMC) wilfromvieanesday lon test ingforallimespectiveot whether they have symptoms cr no, and without doctors prescritionor Sof declaration. The civic body willals conductantgentestsin confainmentzanesandhaspak. ‘This isthe ninth time that EMChaschangodistesting pro- ‘wcol mestlyinconferminy wit central guidelines. The latest changeasocame fterineUrion Health Ministry insructed states ‘wingeasether esting capac. ‘The BMC said on Tuesday thatall laboratories, induding private ones, were fee 1 cor uct RT-PCR (real-time poly merase chain reaction tests an any individual in accordance ‘with Indian Counc of Mectical TOLL CROSSES 5,000 INMUMBAI ‘SHOPS CAN STAY OPEN FOR 2 MORE HOURS FROM THURSDAY PAGES Research (ICMR) guidetines ‘without prescpsinftoma doc- {or including forhome testing ‘Charges foratestatalbora- tory havebeenfixedatRs2500, forhome testing, one willhave to shell out 52800. There are ‘T private las in Mumba that are conducting RFPCR tess. ‘CONTINUEDON PAGE2 Mumbai tests Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh haha calle he e- vised guidelines the most Ii eral ovic-19tesune poicyary- Where in Incia". Ir will be ‘implemented by BMC wit im mediate effec, he said. As of Tuesday, Mumbai has reported {95 132 cases and 000 deaths. ‘On an average, BMC con- ducts 4500705 000 tests per day, whichislowerthan tefl ‘apaaity ofits labs. TheICM in letter toallstaes and union temitones, had instructed allt ‘conduc test as per the full ca- paaty of mers. Eater, the BMC was alow. ingests on forsymptomatic ‘ations anda doctors presen ‘ton was mandatory. The civic body hadwarned private med- jcalpracuionersnocw presarbe testswithoutexamining the pa ‘tent Ithad claimed that mary asymptomatic patients were rushing fortess out of ear, in- creasing the burden on private labs, resultingin delay inlabs ccomingoutwnith testrepors. ‘Therehadbeen cence that npttestng asymptomatic Deo plecould lead tothe spreadof ‘Mevrusand defeat ne ideaot infecien concainment.. So far, BMChas conducted ‘33 hiests-77916permil- lion — witha positivity raze of 23agper cent ‘Meanwhile, apar frome Dials, angen tess ill ls De Carried out in containment ‘Zones and cover both syinpio- ‘matic and high-risk asympto- ‘matic contags— who have co- ‘morbidities - of the infected, ‘These tests will aried out be- ‘ween thefifthtorenthday cf personcominginioconiactwith positive patient {Al laboratories have been asked tir inform BMC about ‘thetest results and then the pa- ‘uersiorbewerbed management and acess tomedical facts. “Labsshoul inform BMC of te reultswithin24hoursfthetess Deingconducied Meteshouldbe ‘no backlog, otherwise labswi fexcacton’ anolicalfiom8MC sid Under its new initiative of “race-test-tracktreat, BMC is targeting cary detecioncl Covid- eases Wehave nsnictedal ‘nosptals and Covi care centres, {wrestalacmited paenrs wo atesuspectedtobe infected" the ffigalsad. Further AMChas instructed allwart officers w set upcamps and usemobievansforrampng up the number of tests. In ‘nowspots, it wll make sympro- ‘muticpatiens and theirontacts ‘wihcomorpidiesundersoant- sentests. “Wehavebeen asked 1otake thehelp of prvatelansforcon- ‘ducting at least 250 ess a day ‘with thiehelp of rapid antigen testingkis.incascasympomatic Datenttestsnegzveinthe anti- agentes, aRFPCR test shouldbe Conducted tocenfirmthe resi.” ‘aviad officer in an eastern sub- upsid FULLREPORTSON ‘wrwwindlianexpress.comMUNICIPAL, CORPORATION OF GREATER MUMBAI NO.HO/63 7o/COVID dated 07/07/2020 Sub: Implementation of Comprehensive Policy for COVID-19 testing — Corrigendum therein Ref: 1) Newer Additional Strategies for COVID-19 Testing dated 23/06/ 2020 2) Letter received from Secretary MOH dated 01/07/2020. 3) HO/1625/C dated 05/06/2020. 4) MGC/F/2332 dated 13/06/2020. 5) HO/5370/C dated 18/06/2020. Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai has issued detailed guidelines for testing from time to time. In view of making the testing seamless and accessible to the citizens of Mumbai, following are the amendments in the existing guidelines: 1. Laboratory are free to conduct RT-PCR test for any individual in accordance with the ICMR guidelines. However, no Prescription or self declaration is required for COVID testing of symptomatic or asymptomatic individuals. 2. Home swab collections for COVID testing (only RT PCR) are allowed and no Prescription is required for the same. 3. Rapid Point-of-Care (PoC) Antigen Detection Test (for diagnosis along with RT-PCR)-. can be used in containment area or hospital settings as per ICMR guidelines which are as follows: A] Containment Zones or Hot Spots (to be performed on site under strict Medical supervision and maintaining kit temperature between 2° to 30°C) * All symptomatic influenza like illness, * Asymptomatic direct & high risk contacts with co-morbidities of a Confirmed case to be tested once between day 5 and day in contact. 'y 10 of coming B] Healthcare Settings (to be performed on site under strict medical supervision and maintaining kit temperature between 2° to 30° Cc) © All symptomatic ILI Patients presenting in healthcare settings and are ‘suspected of having COVID-19 infection, ¢ Asymptomatic patients who are hospitalised or seeking hospitalization, in the following high risk groups: > Patients undergoing chemotherapy, Scanned with CamScannerImmunosupressed patients including those who are HIV+, Patients diagnosed with malignant disease, ‘Transplant patients, Elderly patients (over 65 years of age) with co-morbidities, vvvv * Asymptomatic patients undergoing aerosol generating surgical/non- surgical interventions > Electivefemergency surgical procedures like neurosurgery, ENT ‘surgery, dental procedures etc. » Non surgical interventions like Bronchoscopy, upper GI endoscopy and dialysis etc. 4. The laboratory shall intimate positive status of the patients first to the MCGM and it shall be the duty of MCGM to further intimate it to the patients. The actual report copy of the positive cases can be shared by the laboratory with patient directly but on subsequent day of intimation to MCGM, only AFTER 11AM. 5. It shall be the duty of every testing laboratory to submit a daily return of Opening and closing balance of testing kits available with the laboratory along with the line list of positive cases being submitted to Epid Cell, MCGM on a daily basis. This shall be mandatory for all laboratories to enable MCGM to cross check if all the positive and negative reports have been uploaded by the laboratories on ICMR Portal diligently on a daily basis without any discrepancy what-so-ever. 6. All laboratories are hereby directed to submit the report of number of Antigen tests conducted in the attached format. It is hereby reiterated that the testing capacity of any laboratory SHALL be taken as equal to the number of samples which can be processed by a laboratory and submit results to EPID Cell, MCGM within 24 hours of receipt of the samplerin the laboratory. This shall be treated as actual and real capacity of laboratory to test per day. There SHALL NOT be any compromise on this aspect. Creation of even a single day backlog by any testing laboratory by violating the above definition of capacity of the laboratory shall be liable for strict action including cancellation of licence of the laboratory. The above directives shall be implemented with immediate effect. Dr. Mangala Gomare Ramésh Pawa? SurestiKakani_1.S. Cha E.H.O. ile JtM.C. (PH) A.M.C.(W.S.) M. Cc. t2e: Scanned with CamScannerMUNICIPAL CORPORATION OF GREATER MUMBAI NO.HO/ G37 /COVID dated 07/07/2020 CIRCULAR Sub: Implementation of Comprehensive Policy for COVID-19 testing. Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai has issued detailed guidelines for testing from time to time. Since ‘trace-test-track-treat’ is the key strategy for early Getection and containment of the pandemic, it is important to augment COVID testing in all Wards. Government and MCGM labs are hereby directed to conduct RT PCR tests on Priority for admitted COVID patients as per the ICMR guidelines or COVID suspect patients admitted in or attending OPDs of MCGM / Government Hospitals in the jurisdiction of MCGM. MCGM has procured one lakh test kits of Rapid Point-of-Care (PoC) Antigen Detection Test (for diagnosis along with RT-PCR) and has been distributed to all MCGM medical colleges and attached hospitals. Deans are hereby directed to ensure Rapid Antigen Test of patients be carried out as per ICMR guidelines in the hospital settings, without compromising optimal utilization of RT PCR tests in their labs. The above directives shall be implemented with immediate effect. Chace Bad es Wo Dr. Mangala Gomare Ramesh Pawar Suresh Kakani__I.S.Chahal ve oe E.H.O. ile JtM.C, (P.H.) — A.M.C.(W.S.) M. C. To Deans of Medical Colleges / HODs of Micro biology Scanned with CamScannerMUNICIPAL CORPORATION OF GREATER MUMBAI NO.HO/E9°72 /COVID dated 07 /07/2020 CIRCULAR Sub: Implementation of Comprehensive Policy for COVID-19 testing. ; Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai has issued detailed guidelines for testing from time to time. Since ‘trace-test-track-treat’ is the key strategy for early detection and containment of the pandemic, it is important to augment COVID testing in all Wards. All ACs are herby directed to increase testing by setting up camps/ using mobiles vans (with help of assigned laboratories) in high incidence areas to collect samples of all symptomatic individuals as well as their contacts with co morbidity and get those samples tested by using Rapid Antigen Detection Test. The positive individuals should be treated according to the treatment protocol and the negative ones should be tested for RT-PCR. whole activity need to be supervised by MOH or designated MO of the ward. Symptomatic means- * ILI case is defined as one with acute respiratory infection with fever = 38°C AND cough. * SARI case is defined as one with acute respiratory infection with fever = 38°C AND cough AND requiring hospitalization. Co-morbidity means — lung disease, heart disease, liver disease, kidney diseases, diabetes, neurological disorders and blood disorders. In view of above, Asstt. Commissioners can take help of the private laboratories assigned to their Wards to conduct at least 250 Rapid Antigen Tests per day, wherein Rapid Antigen Test kits will be provided by MCGM and laboratories will conduct the tests. If test result is positive, laboratories will upload the same on ICMR and Ward will shift the patient immediately to CCC2 / DCHC / DCH as per the condition of the patient. If the test result is negative but the patient is symptomatic, then swab has to be taken for RT PCR testing. Rates for Rapid Antigen Testing will be communicated separately. The above directives shall be implemented with immediate effect. Cae Bang daw \ Dr. Mangala Gomare Ramesh Pawar Suresh Kakani_1.S. Chahal E.H. 0. ile JEMLC. (P.H.) — A.M.C.(W.S,) M. C. t-2e° To : All Asstt. Commissioners : R-N/ R-C/ R-S/P-N/P-S/ K-E/S/T/ MOHs :_ R-N/R-C/R-S/P-N/P-S/ K-E/S/T/ Incharge — Private Laboratoriess Scanned with CamScanner