Mobile vans start Covid testing in Mohali district

Tribune News Service

Mohali, September 4

For the first time, mobile testing vans took Covid samples. Two vans collected 100 samples each from Gharuan block near Kharar today.

“The site to be visited is decided on the same day,” said a health official. The district now has the facility of seven testing centres and five mobile teams. In addition, nine private laboratories are also testing Covid samples.

Roughly, 1,000 samples for Covid testing are being collected in the district on a daily basis.

Samples are also being taken free of cost in the government hospitals and various flu centres. To encourage people to come forward and get themselves tested for Covid, a free walk-in facility has been launched where even healthy people desirous of Covid-negative confirmation can visit the government hospitals.

Civil Surgeon Manjit Singh said, “The walk-in facility is available in all district hospitals. In routine, a person can give his sample from 9 am to 1 pm. In emergencies, samples are taken round the clock.”

A team led by Senior Medical Officer Dilbagh Singh sanitised the house and surroundings of a Covid patient at Shahpur village under the Primary Health Centre, Boothgarh. A 61-year-old woman from the village had contracted the virus and had recently died. The SMO said due to an increase in the number of tests, the case count was also increasing. “In case of any serious problem, one should contact ‘104’, the helpline number of the Health Department, instead of going to the hospital,” he said.