New Delhi [India]: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked Delhi Government to consider expeditiously the issue of early re-testing of international travellers who detected COVID-19 positive on arrival from different foreign countries. The court was hearing a plea of a mother whose 18-year-old son was admitted to a private hospital in the national capital after he was tested COVID-19 positive upon his arrival here from the United Kingdom. Justice Rekha Palli asked the Delhi government to expeditiously consider the matter so that patients, like the petitioner’s son, do not suffer. The petitioner has moved the Delhi High Court last month with her plea seeking to know the outcome of the genome sequencing test carried on her son. Later her son tested negative and was discharged from the hospital during the pendency of the matter. The petitioner told the court like her son, various other patients were being kept in various health facilities for days as the hospitals were not conducting re-testing COVID-19 periodically. Responding to petition submission, counsel appearing for the hospital submitted that the hospital administration was only following the Delhi government directive that in relation to international travellers who test COVID-19 positive, they have to be re-tested on the tenth day of the first test or after three days of being asymptomatic. Advocate Arun Panwar, appearing for the Delhi government said they are following the guidelines issued by the Centre and urged the court to grant time to seek instructions. However Central government counsel Bharati Raju submitted that there was no ban on repeat RT-PCR in their guidelines. The court had listed the matter for further hearing on January 14. The petitioner had said that despite her son having no symptoms he was compelled to stay at a private hospital and despite his repeated requests no RTPCR test was conducted. The petitioner had also told the court she was not being provided with the genomic sequencing report to enable her to ascertain whether her son was suffering from omicron.
