To beef up the infrastructure for screening, the government approved 56 laboratories for testing in addition to 136 government-run labs and set a price cap of 4,500 Indian rupees ($59.13) for every test.

The plan is to scale up to 20,000 tests in the next few days and eventually to 100,000 a day in the worse-case scenario.

But the court decision threatens to derail the plan to widen testing, said Shamika Ravi, a former member of the Indian Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council and a health specialist.

“We, thus, issue following interim directions to the respondents: (i)The tests relating to Covid-19 whether in approved Government Laboratories or approved private Laboratories shall be free of cost. The respondents (Centre and other authorities) shall issue necessary direction in this regard immediately,” the bench said.

“They (doctors and healthcare professionals) are warriors. They have to be protected,” the bench observed, adding, “You have to think how to start production. Service sector is working from home. Their well being and mental health is also important”.

The meet comes amidst indications that the Central government may extend the lockdown across the country beyond April 14 after several states have favoured the extension to contain the fast-spreading virus, as the positive cases in the country show no signs of any let up.