HYDERABAD: As many as 3,000 COVID-19 positive patients sample in private laboratories over the past 10 days have become untraceable as some of the private laboratories failed to report to the government. With this, an estimated 6,000 primary contacts are completely off from the government records and it has become problematic for officials to trace them.

Coronavirus cases have witnessed a surge in the state after private laboratories were permitted to conduct COVID-19 tests and more cases are getting reported. During the ongoing investigation of private labs, officials have learnt that more than 3,000 cases have not been reported to the state health department or the ICMR. Every patient who tests positive has to be given a unique ID depending on the sequence of positive tests on a daily basis.

Once a patient tests positive, his/her details are to be conveyed to the state government by the laboratories. Then, the Unique ID will be created. This ID will serve as a database for tracking by the state health department and the ICMR. The contact tracing begins by a set of staff with the help of Unique ID.

On the other hand, the private labs charge Rs 3,000 to Rs 6,000 for a single COVID-19 test and now the patients are left to fend for themselves after getting the report.

Officials said the private labs which have not followed guidelines and necessary protocols to report every positive case to the state government or the ICMR are under their scanner and stringent action will be taken against them and also notices will be served to the laboratories.

"There are so many patients who are untraceable now. They are a bigger challenge in controlling the spread of coronavirus now," officials said.