Telangana High Court Pulls Up State Government Over Covid-19 Testing, Seeks Details On Mobile Tests

The Telangana High Court has asked the K Chandrasekhar Rao Government to file a report on its plans to provide mobile novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) tests on the lines of the ones held by Kerala.

A two-judge bench of the court comprising Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy, pulling up the government for Covid-19 testing, also sought an update on the extent of testing done by the State in districts and the number of laboratories available.

The judges passed the order while hearing a public interest litigation filed by a Suryapet district resident Varu Sankineni, the New Indian Express reported.

Sankineni argued that State health officials had failed to conduct adequate tests in Suryapet district since it was declared a green zone on 22 April.

The court also asked the State government to provide details on the factual position in Nirmal district, another green zone. It sought details such as the number of tests conducted since 22 April.

The High Court direction comes at a time when questions are being raised over the State’s handling of the Coronavirus situation.

Last week, the court had asked the Rao government to conduct Covid-19 tests on bodies of the dead. Besides, a kin of a victim has claimed that his uncle had died of Coronavirus but his details were not included in the Covid-19 list of the dead.

A group of doctors under Doctors for Seva have also complained of inadequate testing by the Telangana government.

So far, 1,597 persons have tested positive for Coronavirus with 35 persons succumbing to the pandemic.