Comments
The random Covid test of arriving international passengers continued for the second day at Delhi airport on Sunday, and some passengers have tested positive, according to an official.
Also read: Covid-19 tests for international air passengers begins in India
At the Delhi airport, as many as 455 passengers have been subjected to random coronavirus testing, starting from 10 am on Saturday till 7 pm on Sunday. Out of them, less than half per cent are positive cases, an official at Genestrings Diagnostic Centre said.
Genestrings is conducting coronavirus tests at the Delhi airport.
Surge in cases
The government has made random coronavirus testing mandatory for two per cent of passengers arriving in each international flight from Saturday amid a surge in coronavirus cases in various countries, including China.
In a statement earlier in the day, Genestrings said that by the end of Saturday, it had conducted approximately 110 tests. On an average, 25,000 travellers arrive at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) here and out of them, 500 random passengers are being tested, it added.
The company is also ramping up manpower for sample collection and testing at the airport.
Also read: India's move to conduct random RT-PCR tests unlikely to disrupt travel plans of holidaymakers
"We have increased the manpower of lab technicians at the facility to ensure availability and timely reporting along with being fully prepared for Covid management," Gauri Agarwal, founder of Genestrings, said in the statement.
Genestrings Chief Operating Officer Chetan Kohli said that manpower will be ramped up further depending on the demand.
Currently, Genestrings has around 40 people, including lab technicians and data entry operators.
Earlier, when these tests were in place for arriving international passengers, Genestrings had a strength of around 850 at the airport, he added.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.