New Delhi:
As many as 3,381 people have undergone rapid antigen tests at a makeshift centre set up by the Delhi government on August 13 at east Delhi’s Anand Vihar ISBT to screen migrants heading back to the Capital as lockdown restrictions have eased, of which 19 have been diagnosed Covid-19 positive till Wednesday, government officials said.
At meeting of the state disaster management authority on Wednesday, the Delhi government is learnt to have told lieutenant-governor (L-G) Anil Baijal that more such testing centres would be set up at the other inter-state bus terminals, railway stations and near major construction sites in line with the Delhi high court’s directions issued on Monday.
“All 19 people who tested Covid-19 positive in Anand Vihar had arrived from Uttar Pradesh. Two of them were women. All 19 were symptomatic and sent to Covid care centres,” said a senior official, citing records maintained by the Shahdara revenue district. Anand Vihar is in the jurisdiction of Shahdara district.
The central government has allowed inter-state road transport under its Covid-19 unlock plan to further ease restrictions in September. But Delhi is yet to take a final call on allowing interstate buses to enter the city.
However, the Anand Vihar ISBT, which is right next to the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border, has witnessed large footfalls for the past one month now.
{{/usCountry}}However, the Anand Vihar ISBT, which is right next to the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border, has witnessed large footfalls for the past one month now.
{{/usCountry}}Most migrants are coming back from various districts in Uttar Pradesh and step down from state buses at another bus terminal in Kaushambi on the Ghaziabad side, bang opposite the Anand Vihar ISBT.
From there, they would walk a few hundred metres to Anand Vihar and then take local buses in Delhi to reach their destination within the city, said another district official who did not wish to be identified.
The official cited above said heath officers deployed at the centre roughly test one out of three persons – which essentially means around 10,000 people have arrived in Delhi after August 13 via Anand Vihar in working hours. The centre operates from 7 am to 7 pm.
Millions of migrant workers had left Delhi in the days following the lockdown imposed on March 25 to arrest the spread of Covid-19. The state government had set up thousands of centres to provide food and shelter to migrant workers who lost their livelihoods until arrangements were made to send them back on trains and buses. Thousands of them set off on arduous journeys back home, covering hundreds of miles, by foot.
Dr Lalit Kant, former head of epidemiology and communicable diseases department in the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), said: “The objective of the tests play a crucial role in this case. Since, the government is isolating positive cases, they should ideally test all individuals. RT-PCR should be a preferred mode in this case.”
Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) tests are considered to be more accurate.
T Jacob John, former professor of virology at Christian Medical College in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore, said using RT-PCR tests in these centres, where migrants are tested, would help the government in accurately detecting more Covid-19 positive cases but the process may have its own challenges.
John said, “Conducting RT-PCR tests on all individuals arriving in the city would require the capacity of laboratories to be increased immensely. So, instead of that, the government can first reduce the numbers by a round of rapid antibody tests and relieve people who are found to have contracted the virus and recovered. The second round should be rapid antigen tests and those found positive should be isolated immediately. Both tests show results within 30 minutes and the kits are cheap. On the remaining population, RT-PCR tests can be done.”