States controlling COVID-19 testing to show lower number of cases, says Thyrocare

Thyrocare Technologies on Wednesday said that many state governments were controlling COVID-19 testing to show reduced numbers of cases due to pressure on them to show lower infections than others.

“To be very honest, government is still controlling. I am not referring to the Maharashtra government, it’s all over the country. In some states, Thyrocare has been told not to pick up samples, verbally. In some states – ‘don’t report to ICMR, reverse the data, we will tell you the cutoff, then you report’,” said A Velumani, CMD & CEO of Thyrocare Technologies, in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

“Let me tell you that because of antibody levels rising, the number of people getting admitted in hospitals is reducing, number of beds are either stagnating or coming down. So positive side is happening but the government is unnecessarily panicked to show the neighbouring state that ‘I am a better state’. They are controlling the numbers and this is unfair,” he added.