Government to ramp up Covid testing across Telangana

Hyderabad: Telangana has decided to ramp up Covid-19 testing to 40,000 per day in coming days and mobile testing method is going to be one of the factors to realise the target.

This form of testing kicked off from July 29 and is being done at present in GHMC limits with 20 buses. US-based firm Vera Health Care is assisting the Health department in this initiative. The department is learnt to have given nod to the firm to ramp up Covid mobile testing across the State by deputing 100 buses.

At present 20 big and mini-buses accompanied by ambulances are visiting various places in GHMC limits like Charminar, Kukatpally, Yousufguda, Malakpet, Asifnagar for the last 10 days and doing testing for locals there.

MLAs, corporators and bureaucrats are placing requirements for mobile testing in their jurisdiction and accordingly buses are being sent to such places.

Dharma Teja Nukarapu of Vera Healthcare stated that they are doing a maximum of 500 tests per bus. Our teams are collecting swab samples of primary contacts of positive cases, symptomatic individuals from that area and handing over the same to the State government labs like Gandhi, Osmania etc to test the and give results.

He stated that shortly they are going to station 5 buses at selected locations like Charminar, Kukatpally, Dilsukhnagar, Secunderabad etc in five zones of the city continuously for some period so that locals from a few kilometers radius can avail the facility. Dharma Teja further stated that after pressing into service 100 buses shortly the mobile testing teams would tour extensively in districts and in villages to test the rural population.