Record Covid surges spur rush at Ludhiana’s testing centres

From 2,000 samples a day until last week, the number has now grown to 10,000, amid record spike in cases for three days in a row

With the district topping its daily Covid records for three days in a row, private and government testing centres are witnessing an unprecedented rush of people.

Long queues are being witnessed outside the Ludhiana civil surgeon’s office, where Covid tests are conducted for free. (HT Photo)

Long queues were witnessed at the civil surgeon’s office and Ludhiana civil hospital, where tests are conducted for free, while the queue outside Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH), which shares RT-PCR results within 12 hours, is also swelling with each day.

As many as 2,000 samples were being collected daily until last week, and now the number has grown to 10,000. A total of 10,033 people were sampled at the private and government facilities on Thursday, after 9,932 on Wednesday. A day before, 7,282 people were tested.

District epidemiologist Dr Ramesh said there were 50 static collection points in the district. Besides, 26 teams were deployed at mobile check posts and another 15 were testing residents of the two containment zones in Dugri’s Urban Estate. Besides, 24 private labs, including those at CMCH and DMCH, were also conducting Covid tests.

“Anticipating heavy rush, I had reached the civil surgeon’s office half-an-hour before sampling began. But, I was met with a huge queue and could give my sample only after two hours,” said Gaurav Gupta, a resident of Civil Lines.

Dr Veenu Gupta, head of department of microbiology, DMCH, said earlier majority of those travelling via air used to get tested, but of late, even contacts of positive patients or those with mild symptoms were giving their samples.

Dr Kiran Ahluwalia, the district’s nodal officer for Covid, said though the health department’s staff was hard-pressed, there was no option but to ramp up testing to curtail the rapid rise in infections.