Hyderabad: Days after the state health department provided a fiat to its personnel at the Covid-19 testing centres to restrict the variety of tests daily, it pulled up the very same personnel for revealing the fact about the real extent of Covid-19 cases in Telangana state.In a message in their departmental, and often compartmentalised WhatsApp groups based upon functional responsibilities, a 'last warning' has been released to testing centre personnel, especially at main health centres, not to expose any screening results.

In one such message, a district medical and health officer (DMHO) said, DIRECTIONS OF DMHO: Dear Mos (Medical Officers) please see that no details is provided to any person on rat tests (sic) (Rapid Antigen Tests) and positives.

In spite of duplicated directions, many of PHCs (Main Health Centres) are offering details on results.

Please follow the directions of DMHO, otherwise action will be initiated.

This is the last and final warning.

Thank u.

(sic)While a person getting the test done is expected to be notified of the result, the directions seem directed to prevent media workers, or others, including workers of political parties, NGOs and so forth at the ground level from assessing the true Covid-19 circumstance.

For long, the Telangana government has been implicated by Opposition parties of concealing the real Covid-19 photo in the state and the Telangana High Court too had consistently brought up the state on this problem.

It may be recalled that on Wednesday, the state government had declared that the Covid-19 circumstance was under control and the cases were showing a down pattern.

The federal government also said that anybody with symptoms ought to be considered to be Covid-19 favorable and be provided medicines.Previously, as reported by this paper on May 2 with the heading 'Covid testing in health centres limited', Telangana State limited day-to-day screening at all its testing centres, stating just 50 tests per day should be conducted at each Main Health Centre and Urban Health Centre, while at Neighborhood Health Centres, just 100 tests ought to be done each day.

The highest number of daily tests -- 200-- will be conducted at the district basic healthcare facilities.