A new rapid Covid-19 test facility is to come up at Delhi airport by the middle of this month, the airport announced on Friday. The Delhi airport claims that it is the only airport in the country to have such a facility, which is available at airports abroad, including the Frankfurt airport in Germany.

The testing facility is primarily meant for incoming international flyers who have not been able to get a Covid test done 96 hours prior to arrival and need to take a another domestic connecting flight.

The 3,500-square-metre facility will be located in the multi-level car park of the Delhi airport, and the results of the samples collected will be available within four-to-six hours.

“Until the results are confirmed, passengers will be isolated in the waiting lounge or they can opt to stay in a hotel. In case of a positive result, the passenger will be processed in line with Indian Council of Medical Research’s protocols by the state authorities,” the airport said in a statement.

More facilities coming up

At the moment, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s guidelines say that international arriving passengers who have a RT-PCR negative certificate are exempt from institutional quarantine and are allowed to undertake onward journeys by air. This exemption is based on a negative test report for which the test has to be done within 96 hours before undertaking the journey.

Speaking to the BusinessLine , Dr Rajat Arora, Chief Executive Officer, Genestrings Diagnostics Centre, a Delhi-based lab with which the Delhi airport has tied up to launch this facility, said that the lab has been built and equipped to handle up to 2,500 samples daily. He added that it will be further equipped as and when the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Civil Aviation want the capacity to be ramped up.

The cost of the test is ₹2,400 as mandated by the state government. Dr Arora said that Genestrings Diagnostics was in touch with other airports around the country to set up such facilities there.