Free walk-in Covid-19 testing at 244 spots in Mumbai from today

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Sunday said starting today (Monday), citizens will be able to avail free walk-in Covid-19 testing at 244 locations

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Sunday said starting today (Monday), citizens will be able to avail free walk-in Covid-19 testing at 244 locations across the city as the civic body aims to increase tests to 24,000 daily before Diwali.

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The BMC said citizens will be able to test for free between 10am to 12 noon. Citizens can avail information on the nearest testing camp by calling on BMC’s helpline 1916 or visiting http://stopcoronavirus.mcgm.gov.in.

Hindustan Times had reported first on Sunday that BMC is going to finalise a plan of free walk-in testing camps at multiple locations across the city.

Civic officials said the plan was to have adequate testing facilities in a decentralised manner. Owing to this, the number of testing centres will go up to over 300 in the city. A total of 54 private laboratories are providing these tests, including home service.

Since September, the BMC has been conducting between 8,000-15,000 Covid-19 tests on a daily basis, 30-40% of which comprises rapid antigen tests. Overall, more than 15.26 lakh tests have been conducted in the city and the overall positivity rate is around 16%.

Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner, BMC, said, “Free walk-in testing camps will help in increasing the number of tests as well as timely diagnosis.”

The state Covid-19 task-force had also suggested that daily testing should be increased if more unlocking is happening.

Furthermore, the BMC is also anticipating a surge in cases around the festival time and additionally, local trains starting for all citizens in the coming days.

Meanwhile, according to BMC, initially, the facility of free testing will be available on a walk-in basis, and further on, after taking the response into account, an appointment system may be initiated.