Mohali Health Dept appeal motivates people for testing

Sanjay Bumbroo
Tribune News Service
Mohali, September 15

An appeal by the Health Department urging people to get themselves tested for Covid-19 in case of fever and other symptoms has received a tremendous response in the district.

Nine designated Covid test centres and similar number of private testing labs in the district are witnessing a footfall of around 500 to 600 persons daily sampled for the deadly virus on getting fever.

Rise in footfall at testing centres

Nine designated Covid test centres and similar number of private testing labs in the district are witnessing a footfall of around 500 to 600 persons daily sampled for the deadly virus on getting fever.

The Civil Surgeon, Dr Manjit Singh, said 25 per cent of the total samples collected from the district were of those people who were suffering from mild fever and other symptoms.

He said initially people were hesitating to visit testing centres due to social stigma. Due to awareness by health officials, more and more people were now coming forward on their own.

Dr Singh said earlier around 1,000 samples were collected daily. After authorising private labs, around 2,000 samples were now collected daily at nine government testing centres and nine private labs in the district. He said of these, around 500 to 600 people were coming to these testing facilities on their own, which was also helping them in containing the deadly virus.

Nodal Officer Dr Harmandeep Kaur said besides nine government testing facilities and similar number of private testing labs, they also had two mobile testing vans, which were being used in case of an emergency.

She also urged people not to be afraid of coronavirus and visit Covid-19 testing facilities on their own to give samples if they have fever and any other symptom.