With the increased crowd at Thane railway station after the unlock phase; Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) has increased the numbers of testing facilities at the station. Moreover, there has been an overall increase in the number of testing within Thane city. This has had an impact on the daily positive cases as well.
During the peak of the second wave, testing in Thane was around 10,000 daily. This figure reduced to around 2,000 daily during the lockdown as fewer people started venturing out. The figures have now risen to more than 4,000 tests daily.
“We have increased the testing within the city as people have started to step out of their homes. The lockdown had resulted in fewer people turning up for testing, hence we had fewer testing numbers. Now, we are gradually increasing the testing, as many are returning to their jobs from the villages or other states, this has led to an increased crowd for testing at Thane station,” said a senior officer from TMC.
“With hotels and shops getting permission to open up and the probability of malls as well, to open soon, many who work in these establishments are returning in the hope to be back on their jobs. This has probably led to an increase in people at the railway station for testing,” said Dhananjay Singh, founder, Rudra Pratishthan, an organisation that works for the welfare of the north Indian community in Thane.