A mismatch in the COVID-19 test result of TDP MLC Deepak Reddy by State government agencies and a private lab in Hyderabad touched off a furore with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) objecting to health officials asking him to go undergo home quarantine.
TDP national president and former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu in a statement on Thursday, said another ugly face of the government is revealed in the tests conducted on MLAs and MLCs during the recent budget session of the Assembly.
This trick is being played on the Opposition leaders who returned from neighbouring States. But, Mr. Deepak Reddy already underwent SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR test at two locations in Telangana where he tested negative, he pointed out and accused the State government of negligence and resorting to “cheap tactics” at a time when cases were rising unabated in Andhra Pradesh.
TDP national general secretary N. Lokesh expressed doubts over the accuracy of the tests being conducted by the State government. Posting the test reports of the government and a private lab in Hyderabad on Twitter, he said the government seems to be conducting the tests in a very casual manner.
The Health Department officials responded swiftly to the tweets by Mr. Lokesh.
They said the RT PCR test has a sensitivity (chances of detecting positive in a COVID patient) of 67%. That means in 33% with COVID, it is still negative, whereas its specificity is 100%. It means if the test is positive, it is 100% certain that the patient has COVID.
‘Avoid critical remarks’
During recovery, the test also becomes negative as in the case of Mr. Deepak Reddy. The initial report of positive means he had COVID, whereas, the second test is negative because of two reasons: It can be missed because of 67% sensitivity or his viral load might have come down as he might be in the recovery phase.
“AP health Dept advises all concerned to be responsible before making any comments on technical matters. Further such comments not only affect the morale of the staff working in labs but also create avoidable suspicion in the minds of the public during pandemic which is not good. Department of Health, AP still advises Sri Deepak Reddy Home Isolation as per ICMR guidelines despite his negative test result,” they tweeted.
