Drive through COVID-19 testing facilities in Delhi increased; private labs ramp-up testing

As Coronavirus cases rise in Delhi, the govt has ramped up testing in the national capital. Similarly, private labs have also started testing aggressively as per the directions of the Central and state government. According to ANI, one such private lab has increased its testing facilities by establishing additional drive-through sample collection centres for COVID-19 testing.

'We got an overwhelming response from patients'

Dr Dangs Lab has opened a centre near Siri Fort Auditorium in the national capital, in a bid to augment the fight against COVID-19. Speaking to ANI, Dr Arjun Dang, CEO of Dr Dangs Lab, said, "Due to COVID-19 cases surging in Delhi-NCR, we started this novel initiative of drive-through testing and we've now established our third facility. Till date, we have done close to 3,000 RT-PCR tests, samples for which have been collected at these centres."

"This initiative was planned keeping in mind the increasing number of cases and also increase in demand for testing. Anyone with mild or moderate symptoms of COVID-19 can get their test done at this drive-through facility."

'20-minute time slot allocated to each vehicle'

"We got an overwhelming response from patients, not only about the bookings but also regarding the ease of testing and the safety measures that are in place currently in our facilities since the samples are collected with the patients seated inside their car," added Dang.

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"A 20-minute time slot is allocated to each vehicle, but the entire sample collection process lasts for not more than 6-7 minutes," he said. Delhi's Coronavirus tally stands at 73,780 total cases, out of which 26,586 are active while 44,765 have recovered so far. The death toll has reached 2,429.

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Meanwhile, the highest single-day surge in COVID-19 cases went past 17,000 on Friday, pushing India's tally to 4,90,401, while the death toll climbed to 15,301 with 407 new fatalities, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

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Updated at 8 am, the data showed the daily COVID-19 cases increased by the highest-ever 17,296 cases. The number of active cases stands at1,89, 463while 2,85,636 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, according to the updated figure at 8 am.

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(With agency inputs)