Mumbai: 47,800 to be tested every day at crowded places

Mumbai: A day after announcing its plan to conduct rapid antigen tests (RATs) randomly at crowded places in Mumbai, the BMC on Saturday released a circular stating the contours of the exercise. The RAT test will be done randomly, without the consent of persons present at these places.

If anyone refuses to undergo the test, an offence will be registered under the Epidemic Act of 1897 and action initiated. The cost incurred on the RAT at malls will be borne by the visitor. If any visitor refuses to get tested or pay the charge, an offence will be registered under the Epidemic Act 1897.

At other crowded places, the cost of the RAT will be borne by the BMC.

The circular does not state the cost, but officials said it would be about Rs 250.

The testing circular, signed by the municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal, states: “The assistant municipal commissioners are hereby directed to conduct the rapid antigen test and ensure that their daily target is achieved.”

All the 24 municipal wards in the city have been given a target of conducting 47,800 tests every day.

The target for RATs in every ward depends on the number of malls, railway stations, bus depots and other such places of public gathering that exist in it.

Each ward should conduct 400 random RATs per mall per day.

There will be 1,000 tests conducted daily at each one of nine major railway stations. Eight of these were CSMT, Mumbai Central, Dadar (Central), Dadar (Western), Bandra Terminus, Andheri, Borivli, LTT Kurla. The ninth station was not named.

There will be 1,000 tests daily at each one of four MSRTC bus depots, which are Mumbai Central, Parel, Borivli and Kurla.

Another 24,000 tests will be conducted at other crowded places like khau gullies, hawking spots, marketplaces, tourist places, various government offices and restaurants.

A RAT gives the result in 30 minutes but has lower sensitivity than the RT-PCR test.

Mayor Kishori Pednekar and deputy mayor Suhas Wadkar visited Oberoi mall in Goregaon on Saturday. Pednekar said that in view of the rising cases, every shopkeeper should be given a face shield and asked to follow the government guidelines. She said visitors must wear face masks and maintain physical distance.

With the crowd growing at the flower market in Dadar, the G-North ward conducted RT-PCR tests on 215 persons, including licensed vendors and wholesellers. There were six positive results, all labourers. They were sent to institutional quarantine in Vanita Samaj hall in Dadar, a Covid care centre.