2nd sample collection van pushes daily capacity to 1k

Noida: The administration Monday launched a second sample collection van, provided by Dabur India under its CSR initiative, with a capacity of 200-250 samples per day. A similar van was launched last month and these will travel to rural areas as per a roster prepared by health department.
With this, over 1000 samples can be collected per day in the district, 500 by these two mobile units and the rest by the three Covid hospitals. With more private hospitals being brought into the fold, this number is set to increase.
Anil Singh, chief development officer, GB Nagar said that the van will have two technicians for sample collections. “We will draw up a roster every day for the vans as per requirements from the health department who book them based on specific criteria for testing. These include direct service sourced from contact tracing team, containment zone areas and all primary health centres and community health centres.
Last week, the administration started a special sample collection campaign from old age homes, orphanages, urban slums, hospital staff, and of auto driver and vendors for early detection of cases. “The vans can be used for any of these even as it makes tours of rural areas as per roster prepared by the health department. This is done to ensure sample collection of ILI symptomatic people who are unable to come to testing centres,” said Singh, adding that more such mobile vans may be added if the need arises.
A helpline number, 18004192211, was also release for queries on sample collection, appointments, testing and admission to hospitals.
“Our testing rate per million is thrice the national average. When we started, we had only government labs conducting the Covid tests. Now, around 15 private labs have joined,” said Suhas LY, DM, GB Nagar.