Drive-through Covid-19 testing centres launched in Mumbai

The financial capital, home to the maximum Covid-19 cases in the country, on Sunday witnessed the launch of its first drive-through testing sites. SRL Diagnostics, which has launched three such facilities in the city, said a test sample will be collected within 10 minutes without a person needing to step out of his car and results conveyed the same or next day over e-mail.  Tests done at the facilities will be free of cost for everybody as per a recent Supreme Court judgement, a company representative said. The facilities at Indiabulls Finance Centre in Lower Parel, Celestia Spaces in Sewri and Lodha Supremeus in Kanjurmarg will be operational between 9 am to 6 pm everyday and the patient can receive the report the same day if the test is conducted before noon, the company said.

The drive-throughs or mobile testing centres were used massively by South Korea to successfully arrest the rate of infections. They have also been started in the national capital region and Kerala by different bodies. The announcement comes at a time when India is still working to increase the testing for the infection. In a statement, the company's regional chief operating officer Ravi Aggarwal said Covid-19 cases are rising exponentially in Mumbai and such facilities will be of help as it fast-tracks testing. Its director for lab operations Dr Prabal Deb said there is a huge shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) like masks, gloves and hazmat suits and we need to find innovative ways to conduct tests efficiently. A person can make an appointment by calling the company, and present a doctor's prescription seeking a Covid-19 test and a copy of Aadhaar Card, the statement added.