The Centre on Wednesday asked states and Union Territories to ramp up testing for the coronavirus disease by allowing private medical practitioners to prescribe the test days after it said symptomatic patients should be tested anywhere in India.

The Union health ministry and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) have sought “full capacity utilisation” of Covid-19 testing labs, expressing concern that capacity utilisation, particularly in the private sector, remains “grossly suboptimal” in some states and territories.

The health secretary Preeti Sudan and ICMR director general Balram Bhargava have pointed out that the mandatory requirements of a government doctor’s prescription for a test imposed by some states and territories “pose an impediment and lead to unnecessary delays”.

“At this juncture, it is absolutely necessary to facilitate testing at the earliest by enabling all qualified medical practitioners, including private practitioners, to any individual fulfilling the (testing) criteria,” Sudan and Bhargava wrote in a letter to states and territories.

“The ICMR strongly recommends that labs should be free to test any individual in accordance with ICMR guidelines and state authorities must not restrict an individual from getting tested as early testing helps in containing the virus and saving lives,” they wrote.

More than 760 government labs and 280 private labs across the country can conduct Covid-19 tests.

The ICMR had on June 23 said testing must be made available to all symptomatic patients anywhere in the country, widely expanding testing criteria which covered only patients with influenza-like illness symptoms living within containment zones marked around positive cases.

Health officials have described the new advisory from the health ministry and ICMR as an effort to remove impediments to testing amid a still growing epidemic.

India on Wednesday recorded 18,653 new Covid-19 cases, raising the total number to 585,493 of whom 220,114 are under medical supervision or treatment, 34,7979 have recovered and 17,400 have died.

The advisory has also called states and territories to expand testing by deploying mobile vans to test all sympatomatic people in high incidence areas.

Public health experts have hailed the new advisory saying it was long overdue and likely reflects the government’s confidence in not just offering tests but managing positive cases that emerge.

“Aggressive testing is a standard proven public health response against Covid-19 — ideally such expanded testing should have been done earlier,” said Oommen John, a senior research fellow and public health specialist at The George Institute for Global Health, New Delhi.

“But it is possible the health systems had limited capacity earlier. The call now for vastly expanded testing could mean the health system is much better geared up now to absorb the patients who test positive and require hospital care,” John said.

The ICMR has pointed out that the government and private labs can collectively now conduct tests on over 200,000 samples a day.

The Centre and states have also prepared hospitals and over 315,000 isolation beds, 128,000 oxygen-supported beds, and 25,000 intensive care unit beds dedicated for Covid-19 patients.