Tirupati: Covid test centre at Ruia lacks basic amenities

Tirupati: Amid rising number of Covid cases, people were queuing up at test centres in their eagerness to get tested. The Covid testing centre at Ruia Hospital wore a busy look for the past few days and people have been reaching there from the morning itself to stand in the line waiting for their turn.

However, the hospital authorities did not care to make any arrangements for the people to have a hassle free testing process. They failed to provide any shelter and queue lines with markings to make people wait duly following physical distancing. This has been causing a problem there and some of them were commenting that instead of a testing centre, it has become a Covid spreading area.

A youngster, who was standing in the queue line said that he came there after being exposed to a Covid positive patient though not having any symptoms. But, there were other people in the same line having cold and cough and there is every chance of getting infected with the virus at the testing centre itself. At least, the authorities should have made proper arrangements to maintain a minimum distance between.

Another man observed that the Covid ward is just opposite the testing centre and people who come for testing are forced to wait for a long time there itself. Undoubtedly, it has become a high risk area now and the officials have to think of changing the centre to some other place and make foolproof arrangements there.

It may be recalled that the testing centre was located at the maternity hospital building during the first two waves but shifted some time back. With the rising trend in Covid cases, the tests were also increased and around 5,000 tests are being conducted daily in the district while at Ruia hospital now more than 150 tests are being conducted every day as against less than 10 tests in December last week.

Meanwhile, the district continued reporting more than 1,000 cases for the fourth day in a row taking the number of active cases from 238 to 7,000 in just 15 days. The positive cases in urban areas are 616 against the 388 cases in rural areas. Tirupati city reported 354 cases while the rural mandal accounts for another 38 cases. Chittoor urban has reported 171 cases on Monday.

In view of the increasing Covid cases, the district administration has intensified its efforts to arrange Covid care centres in every constituency. Joint Collector C Sridhar visited PES hospital in Kuppam on Monday while another JC N Rajasekhar inspected the facilities at Good Shepherd hospital in Puttur and Boys hostel in Karvetinagaram to make them Covid care centres.