Private companies to give 50,000 antigen test kits to Gurugram amid Covid spike

The health department on Wednesday put forth the demand during a regional meeting of the Haryana State CSR Trust for Gurugram

Amid a rise in Covid-19 infections, the district administration will receive 50,000 antigen test kits from private companies, under the corporate social responsibility (CSR), by the end of this week, said the officials on Thursday.

A health worker collects swab samples of a woman for Covid-19 testing, in Gurugram on Thursday. (Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)

The health department on Wednesday put forth the demand during a regional meeting of the Haryana State CSR Trust for Gurugram. “The corporate sector in the district has helped a lot during the previous Covid waves, and this time too, the authorities are focusing on increasing testing and surveillance in the district. The health department has asked for 50,000 antigen test kits for the purposes, and so, we have written to a few corporates and got positive responses too. We are expecting to get the test kits by this weekend,” said Gaurav Singh, additional CEO of Haryana CSR Trust.

On Thursday, Gurugram reported 473 fresh Covid-19 cases along with 294 recoveries, taking the active case tally to 1,548. The district, last time, crossed the 1,500-mark on January 3, when it recorded 1,828 active cases. The district’s positivity rate was recorded at 11.80%, with 4,007 tests conducted in the past 24 hours.

On Thursday, a total of 1,506 precautionary doses were administered in Gurugram of which, 626 were in the 18-60 age group, 566 in the 60+ age group and rest to health care workers and front-line workers.

A total of 5,194 doses were administered, including 977 first doses and 2,711 second doses. Till now, over 5.19 million doses have been administered in Gurugram.

Gurugram has been continuously increasing testing with a spike in cases. From around 1,500 daily testing in the first week of April, the district has now started testing over 4,000 samples a day. The district health department is working with the strategy of test, track and treat to curb the rise in cases in the district.