<p>Thousands of Covid-19 sufferers who have symptoms of the disease are testing negative on RT-PCR but go on to show trademark Covid-19 lung manifestations when subject to CT scans.</p>.<p>Improperly collected swabs, premature testing, poor quality testing and even mutated viruses may be behind this dramatic increase in false-negative incidents, said Dr C N Manjunath, a committee member of the Covid Task Force. “The problem is serious as nearly 10% of all Covid-19 cases fall into this category and people can be quite ill,” he added.</p>.<p>Among them was 58-year-old Kalavathi, a resident of Bengaluru. When she developed symptoms of Covid-19, her family expected a positive RT-PCR report. But it came back as negative. “A CT scan revealed lung congestion,” said her son Vijay.</p>.<p>As Kalavathi’s family soon discovered, there were ramifications to testing Covid-positive only on CT scans. For one, as the patient had not tested positive under the RT-PCR regimen, no District ID patient number was assigned to her. She was officially a non-Covid patient. The lack of a BU number meant the patient could not be admitted to a hospital under the government quota.</p>.<p><strong>Also read: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/covid-19-vaccine-crisis-likely-to-continue-for-another-3-months-says-v-k-paul-985616.html" target="_blank">Covid-19: Vaccine crisis likely to continue for another 3 months, says V K Paul</a></strong></p>.<p>An indeterminate number of such sufferers are not being registered as Covid-19 patients, despite the passing of a recent circular meant to address this problem. </p>.<p>Dr Manjunath, who said he made the recommendation which resulted in the circular, explained that helplines must accept such patients as Covid-positives and allot a bed. “Once that is done, all the other protocols fall into place. The patient is registered on the ICMR portal as a confirmed case, treatment protocols are assigned, private hospitals have a point of reference to claim financial reimbursement from the government, etc,” he said.</p>.<p>Dr Thrilok Chandra, Health Commissioner, added that SOPs had been tweaked to take a syndromic approach. He said helplines have to accept symptomatic patients even if they have a negative RT-PCR test result. However, sources on the ground said this is not happening.</p>.<p>“The 108 and other helplines are refusing to accept them as Covid-19 cases,” explained Mohammed Ismail, a member of the civil Emergency Response Team (ERT), which is involved in offering bed booking assistance.</p>.<p>“As per my knowledge not one CT scan-positive case has been given a government-quota bed to date,” he added.</p>.<p>When Kalavathi died, her family also discovered that they had to wait for over 24 hours to cremate, as confirmed Covid-positive bodies had priority.</p>
<p>Thousands of Covid-19 sufferers who have symptoms of the disease are testing negative on RT-PCR but go on to show trademark Covid-19 lung manifestations when subject to CT scans.</p>.<p>Improperly collected swabs, premature testing, poor quality testing and even mutated viruses may be behind this dramatic increase in false-negative incidents, said Dr C N Manjunath, a committee member of the Covid Task Force. “The problem is serious as nearly 10% of all Covid-19 cases fall into this category and people can be quite ill,” he added.</p>.<p>Among them was 58-year-old Kalavathi, a resident of Bengaluru. When she developed symptoms of Covid-19, her family expected a positive RT-PCR report. But it came back as negative. “A CT scan revealed lung congestion,” said her son Vijay.</p>.<p>As Kalavathi’s family soon discovered, there were ramifications to testing Covid-positive only on CT scans. For one, as the patient had not tested positive under the RT-PCR regimen, no District ID patient number was assigned to her. She was officially a non-Covid patient. The lack of a BU number meant the patient could not be admitted to a hospital under the government quota.</p>.<p><strong>Also read: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/covid-19-vaccine-crisis-likely-to-continue-for-another-3-months-says-v-k-paul-985616.html" target="_blank">Covid-19: Vaccine crisis likely to continue for another 3 months, says V K Paul</a></strong></p>.<p>An indeterminate number of such sufferers are not being registered as Covid-19 patients, despite the passing of a recent circular meant to address this problem. </p>.<p>Dr Manjunath, who said he made the recommendation which resulted in the circular, explained that helplines must accept such patients as Covid-positives and allot a bed. “Once that is done, all the other protocols fall into place. The patient is registered on the ICMR portal as a confirmed case, treatment protocols are assigned, private hospitals have a point of reference to claim financial reimbursement from the government, etc,” he said.</p>.<p>Dr Thrilok Chandra, Health Commissioner, added that SOPs had been tweaked to take a syndromic approach. He said helplines have to accept symptomatic patients even if they have a negative RT-PCR test result. However, sources on the ground said this is not happening.</p>.<p>“The 108 and other helplines are refusing to accept them as Covid-19 cases,” explained Mohammed Ismail, a member of the civil Emergency Response Team (ERT), which is involved in offering bed booking assistance.</p>.<p>“As per my knowledge not one CT scan-positive case has been given a government-quota bed to date,” he added.</p>.<p>When Kalavathi died, her family also discovered that they had to wait for over 24 hours to cremate, as confirmed Covid-positive bodies had priority.</p>