NOIDA/GHAZIABAD: Healthcare officials in GB Nagar on the second day of a target testing campaign — which was launched earlier this week by testing various groups of people — complained of facing several difficulties while trying to test beauty parlour staff and mehendi artists.
The teams said most of the parlours were not operational till 12.30 pm.
They said finding mehendi artists proved problematic as they are expected to become available only from November 2, two days before the Karva Chauth festival, said officials.
They complained of similar problems in rural areas of Dadri, Jewar and Dankaur. “In the rural areas, parlours were hardly operational. We, however, found one woman from a parlour in Dadri who was found positive for Covid-19,” said Dr Sanjeev Manglik, nodal officer in-charge of sampling in GB Nagar.
In Ghaziabad, the health department officials have sought assistance from the police as people are reluctant in getting tested for Covid.
“Three teams comprising two officials per team were sent on Friday to carry out target testing at beauty parlours in sectors 18, 52, 71, 62, Atta market and more in urban areas of Noida. Similar teams went to Dadri, Jewar and Dankaur. While the teams kept roaming till around 1 pm, the parlours were not operational till much later. As a result, the testing began late and the parlours were largely empty,” said a health department official.
In Ghaziabad, Covid tests were carried out by teams in more than 80 beauty parlours. The officials said, against the fixed target — of 1,350 people — 1,360 were tested.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, 365 RT-PCR tests and 1,006 antigen tests were conducted on tempo/auto drivers in Gautam Budh Nagar under the special campaign. None of them tested positive through antigen tests while reports of 365 samples through the RT-PCR method are awaited.
In Ghaziabad, out of the 1,000 autorickshaw drivers tested through antigen kits on Thursday, four turned out to be positive while 360 RT-PCR test reports are awaited.
According to Dr Manglik, these special target samplings are being conducted within the daily sample testing of 2,000 rapid antigen tests and 1,200 RT-PCR tests that are currently being carried out in GB Nagar.
“We have bifurcated the bulk of the daily testing load — 30% RT-PCR tests and 50-60% antigen tests — for target/focus sampling,” he said.
The state government under special campaign has directed all districts to conduct testing of highly vulnerable groups like cab and auto-rickshaw drivers, people working in salons, restaurants, malls, roadside vendors, vehicle showrooms etc. between October 29 and November 12. On Saturday, sweet shops will be covered in GB Nagar and Ghaziabad under the special campaign.