Mumbai: Soon, RAT desks at public places

Mumbai: Soon, RAT desks at public places

BMC directs all ward officers to conduct testing at crowded places

Swapnil MishraUpdated: Thursday, September 09, 2021, 12:13 AM IST
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Dadar market on Sunday - Pic by BL Soni |

Ahead of the anticipated third wave of Covid-19, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is now planning to set up Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) desks at public places. This comes after a rise in daily infections in the last 10 days. Earlier in March this year, the same protocol was followed which was discontinued as the number of cases had dropped. Civic officials said RAT would be conducted at crowded places like malls, railway stations, besides other public locations.

Additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani said they have directed all ward officers to conduct testing at crowded places and keep a day-wise track of daily tests conducted which will be regularly monitored.

“Right now we are focusing on getting more and more tests done. This will help us to detect asymptomatic patients at an early stage and may also help us in understanding the pattern of the spread," said Kakani.

He further said the civic body is focusing on increasing testing to 55,000 ahead of the festive season. Moreover, officials have urged people to get themselves tested immediately if they have any Covid-like symptoms. “Depending on the number of crowded places the ward has, each ward officer will deploy staffers for carrying out tests," Kakani added.

Dr Mala Kaneria, consultant, Dept. of Infectious Diseases at Jaslok Hospital, said considering the relaxations in place since August 15, the BMC is gearing up to ramp-up testing with RAT in crowded places.

“Even though strict guidelines have been issued to Ganesh pandals, forbidding physical darshan, it would still be difficult to prevent congregations entirely. Early and escalated testing will lead to faster detection of cases, which in turn will lead to enhanced contact tracing. This is an attempt to nip the impending third wave in the bud, if it arises,” she said.

Meanwhile, experts believe that Mumbai needs to continue testing more people. Dr Rahul Pandit, member of the Maharashtra Covid-19 task force said the civic body has the capacity of doing one lakh tests daily, but it is not clear why there has been a reduction since cases have increased. “The BMC needs to increase the testing considering that the third wave can be controlled with early diagnosis. We have been seeing that cases surge when testing is reduced in Mumbai. This is not a good sign,” he said.

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