Random testing of Delhi-Noida commuters may not be as effective
noida: While the Gautam Buddh Nagar district administration has started random testing of commuters for Covid-19 at the DND and Chilla borders of Noida-Delhi on Wednesday, only 2 per cent of the total samples tested came back positive. And even as testing was conducted in a designated area, there were complaints of traffic jams at the border area in the morning.
The random testing of people coming from Delhi to Noida was announced by District Magistrate Suhas LY on Tuesday after a meeting with senior administration and health officials following a spike in Covid-19 cases in Delhi. Teams of health officials were deployed at the border on Wednesday morning for conducting raping antigen-based tests which collected samples but only till the afternoon.
"Teams of health officials wearing personal protection equipment (PPE) kits remained at the border locations along with policemen where they set up desks for the rapid antigen-based test, which gives results in 15 minutes. The random sampling is being done to check virus carriers and ensure that infection is contained in Gautam Buddh Nagar," said Dr Deepak Ohri, Chief Medical Officer (CMO), GB Nagar.
While sharing details of the total number of tests conducted on Wednesday, the officer said 165 persons were tested during random sampling at two key entry points to Noida from Delhi. "81 persons were tested for Covid at DND border out of which one person turned out to be positive while from the 84 persons tested for Covid during random sampling at Chilla border, reports of two persons were positive," the CMO said, adding that those who were found positive were sent back to Delhi and only those testing negative were allowed to enter Noida.
The administration also informed about the details of the positive cases to their organisations and employers so that the spread of infection can be contained to a large extent.
While the random sampling exercise is meant to weed out unassuming transmitters, its implementation on the first day is not expected to have the desired results. Firstly, the number of samples picked was too little to be representative of all commuters travelling to Noida from Delhi. Secondly, officials tested random samples only till the afternoon, which means there were no checks for people going to Noida in the evening.
