The Health Department has decided to make COVID-19 testing more accessible to the public by promoting testing kiosks at airports, railway stations, border areas, and other public places such as transit points like shopping malls and at various points on the way to Sabarimala.
There are 1,293 COVID-19 testing facilities in both public and private facilities.
Though the government has been looking to the private sector to ramp up COVID-19 testing and made testing-on-demand possible by doing away with medical prescriptions, testing has been limited in the private sector.
There are many factors, including fear of stigma as well as fear that they will be forcefully removed to COVID first-line treatment centres, that have been preventing people from voluntarily testing themselves.
The COVID-19 Screening, Testing, Education and Prevention (STEP) kiosks can be set up by any State-approved or ICMR-approved private labs or hospital development societies of government hospitals, after prior intimation to the District Medical Officer.
All kiosks will have to be registered on the Health Department’s portal for lab information, as per guidelines.
The kiosks will educate people on COVID prevention by providing information on the use of masks and other means of precautions and offer screening for symptoms such as fever using a flash thermometer. There will also be facility to test for anosmia.
The kiosks will open rapid antigen assay for COVID-19 at rates fixed by the government. Good quality masks and sanitisers will be available for sale at the kiosks.
The Health Department has directed that these kiosks should have visibility and be set up in places easily accessible to people. The knock-down kiosks should be set up in well ventilated places with provision for a waiting area so that crowding does not happen.
The DMOs have been given the job of monitoring these kiosks.