Hyderabad: People are lining up from morning 4 am at Nature Cure Hospital in Begumpet and are waiting up to four hours for a COVID-19 test as winter ills combine with fears. New cases will create massive queues at community testing centres.
On Monday, the Siasat.com reporter on Monday went for COVID-19 test at Nature Cure Hospital presents the situation of COVID-19 testing at this government centre. Massive people queuing outside the Nature Cure Hospital started from August when the cold season began with heavy rains and on Monday, these people have reported sore throats, runny noses, and cold-like symptoms.
Many had been waiting between one and half and two hours, but he said getting tested was the right to do to keep COVID-19 free.
However, one woman said she had seen at least 100 to 150 people collecting token in one hour for rapid corona Antigen Test (RCAT) at Nature Cure Hospital.
The medical team at the help desk, said wait-times had jumped from 15 to 30 minutes three weeks ago, to between two to four hours.
Monday was their busiest day yet, with more than 220 tests, up from the 50 to 80 tests they had been doing. The team asks people for their Aadhar card number, name, age, address, number of family members, number of rooms and toilets at the house, did some one reported positive?
Later, the doctors ask for the contact number for registration and the OTP comes on the person’s phone who have come for testing. They are give a token with the all details like the onset of illness, date of testing, and a sample number for reference is given to the person and RACT test is done by the medical authorities.
“I think people are getting worried and the main thing to remember is that the new cases are in quarantine hotels, not in the community, but I think because we had an increase in numbers it’s just making people worried,” said a Doctor present at the Nature Cure Hospital COVID-19 testing centre.
After 30 minutes of the test, the person who underwent the COVID-19 test receives the result via message on the registered number with his or her name test updated negative or positive with the sample number, registered centre name and the link to download the report.