Uttarakhand health department has revealed that around 1-lakh COVID-19 test results issued during the Kumbh Mela at Haridwar in April this year were fake. ICMR had asked the state health department to conduct a probe into the matter.
On Tuesday, the health ministry said a probe has been initiated into the COVID-19 test scam.
“We got to know about an incident when a Punjab resident received a message that his COVID test had been conducted in Haridwar while he was in Punjab. The information was passed onto the State government, which in a pro-active manner conducted an inquiry and about a week ago and directed senior officials in Haridwar to prepare a detailed report,’’ Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said at the ministry press conference.
State’s chief controlling officer of Covid-19, Dr. Abhishek Tripathi, conducted a preliminary investigation which revealed many irregularities in the way tests were conducted during Kumb Mela at Haridwar. The research found that a private laboratory was involved in issuing these fake covid test reports. For a single rapid antigen test, the laboratory received Rs 354 from the state government in Mahakumbh.
Following this preliminary investigation report, the Uttarakhand government ordered an investigation against all the nine private testing laboratories with which the Mela administration had signed a contract to conduct tests of those attending the month-long fair.
Also, during the investigation, around 200 students were employed as sample collectors by the agency.
The investigation revealed how 50 people were registered against a single phone number while a single antigen test kit, which is meant for single-use, was shown to have tested 700 samples. Many fake addresses and fake names were used; also, the report revealed 530 test samples were shown to have been collected from a single house.
Nine agencies and 22 private labs conducted a total of 400,000 tests during the Mahakumbh.
The test results during Kumb showed a 0.18% positivity rate; the overall positivity rate was 10% in Haridwar in April.