Ambika Bhardwaj
Published On: December 30, 2021 at 13:50 IST
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday decided to seek the Centre’s and city Government’s views on a Petition filed by a mother who wanted to know the result of her son’s genome sequencing test because he was not being released by a private hospital due to lack of clarification on the virus variant.
The 18-year-old turned up in Delhi from one of the “at-risk” countries and tested positive for COVID-19. Since the morning of December 25, he has just been kept in exclusion at a private hospital.
While the protocols imposed by the officials must be accompanied, Justice Jyoti Singh asserted that the Petitioner was supposed to know the genome test result, which was not a “nation secret.”
The Court issued a Notice and gave the Counsel representing the two Governments time to seek directions.
The Counsel for the Centre mentioned that the Delhi government was “trying to manage the entire scenario” and noted that, according to the Petition, genome testing was performed by the State Government’s LNJP hospital.
The Court was also notified that, according to the most recent guidelines, specimens for genome testing must be sent in the event of a positive case at an international airport.
The counsel for the Delhi Government noted that it was “not clear from the Petition” who performed the genome test. The Court clarified that it anticipated the Governments to explain “what occurred to the genomic testing; who has it; where is the report; and when will the report arrive.”
The Petitioner’s Counsel told the Court that upon entry at the Delhi international airport from one of the at-risk nations, the child tested positive for the virus, and that officials collected a second swab for genome sequencing, but no “lab reference number” was given to allow the patient to monitor the report.