Nearly 1 lakh Covid reports during Kumbh Mela were fake, reveals report
A private agency in Haryana, which was engaged in Covid-19 testing, reportedly put out fake Covid test results to meet the daily testing quota of 50,000 tests set by the Uttarakhand High Court by using fake phone numbers and addresses to register people.
At least one lakh Covid-19 test results, issued during Kumbh Mela, may have been fake, according to preliminary findings by the Uttarakhand health department.
A private agency in Haryana, which was engaged in Covid-19 testing, reportedly put out fake Covid test results to meet the daily testing quota of 50,000 tests set by the Uttarakhand High Court by using fake phone numbers and addresses to register people.
The controversy came to light when a Punjab resident received a message that his Covid test turned out negative and had been conducted in Haridwar, while he was in Punjab. He had not given any samples for testing. He alleged that his Aadhaar and mobile number had been misused for a fake test.
The information was soon passed onto the State government, which conducted an inquiry and directed senior officials in Haridwar to prepare a detailed report.
The agency was one of the private labs contracted to conduct the tests. The preliminary investigations revealed that many private labs that were roped in for conducting random testing of Kumbh visitors had issued fake reports in the name of random people based on their identity cards and phone numbers.
According to a report, a probe found that a single phone number was used to register more than 50 people while one antigen kit, which is meant for single-use, tested about 700 samples.
“While the detailed probe is underway, payment to all labs which had been assigned the responsibility of conducting tests during the Kumbh has been withheld for the time being” Haridwar District Magistrate C Ravishankar has said.
Kumbh Mela saw lakhs of devotees congregating amid the second wave of the pandemic, which was held from 1 to 30 April. It was spread across parts of Haridwar, Dehradun, Tehri and Pauri districts.
A detailed report is likely to be out within 15 days.
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