Nagpur: Residents who want to take a free Covid test must wait a few days to get results, or look for today’s functional government center.
Many covid swab collection centers in the city are closed, and some others operate with the power of staff that run out, after a widespread covid infection between the front lines and health workers.
On Thursday, TOI visited five centers in two Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) zones, where Covid testing was not a full throttle.
In Raj Nagar Center, residents have emerged to collect their results for the exam they took two days ago.
The staff there has stopped the RT-PCR swab collection for that day, complaining about the lack of staff.
Both nurses on duty have shifted to submit positive reports.
The staff said several colleagues did not report to work because they were positive.
A man said he had given a sample on Tuesday and received a positive report on Thursday.
In a center in Hazaripahad, Covid testing was closed completely because all staff were tested positively.
A staff at KT Nagar UPHC said only the antigen test would be made.
“Some staff are deployed for vaccination.
We don’t have enough staff members to test the RT-PCR.
Covid infection has affected us,” he said.
Even though the time for Covid testing was mentioned until 4pm, the center on Jaripatka was closed before 1 noon.
The closest center in Benzonbagh has stopped Covid testing after several staff members were tested positively.
Toi saw several residents who first visited the second center and then landed at Pachpaoli Covid Care Center (CCC).
The staff there asked residents for the reason they wanted to be tested.
Most say that even though they have no symptoms, they are asked to submit negative reports at their workplace.
In Pachpaoli CCC, even though the medical team is available, footsteps have come down.
The doctor who served said the crowd had dropped by 40% compared to the previous days.
When the surge in Covid cases continues, the number of infected people is assumed to be much higher, but the facilities that are paralyzed and the reluctance between residents has caused fewer tests.
Consistently falling, daily testing in the district has dropped by 42% on Thursday.
City testing numbers are always higher than the number of tests in rural areas.
The test has reached a height of 13,884 on January 22.
It dropped to more than 7,600 on Thursday.
The district has done more than 2.64 lakh tests, including 2.03lakh in the city and more than 6,100 in the countryside.
Of these, more than 56,000 have been positively tested for the test level of 21.18% test.
NMC officials did not respond to TOI calls and messages.