Things didn’t go as per plan for a woman in Maharashtra’s Palghar district as a nasal swab broke inside a her nose and remained stuck during the RT-PCR test for COVID-19.
The incident left the woman’s relatives irked, following which they abused the paramedical staff and also hit a doctor who arrived at the spot, said police.
Soon after the incident, police were informed and several people including the relatives were booked in Virar area of the district on Sunday were booked for allegedly assaulting the doctor of a private hospital after their kin faced discomfort while being subjected to an RT-PCR test, Mira Bhayander Vasai Virar (MBVV) police said.
A video of the incident went viral on social media, and the official said the woman’s kin have been charged under various IPC sections but have not been arrested.
More than a year into the Covid-19 pandemic, the RT-PCR test remains the gold standard for detection of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This method requires trained personnel at every step, from collection of nasopharyngeal swab (NPS) samples to interpretation of the results; in addition, the entire process ranges from 24-48 hours on average.
