Testing at Mumbai's railway stations gets streamlined

After assessment of crowds on Day 1, the BMC and the railways co-ordinated to get more testing booths in place on Thursday, for improved management of passengers entering Mumbai. Only three passengers were found positive on the second day when the BMC tested 13,253 passengers at six railway stations.

At least 10 passengers had tested positive on Wednesday, among 9,779 passengers. Six BMC ward offices were involved in the screenings on Thursday.

After Wednesday's Bandra Terminus crowding incident, Western Railway officials and BMC teams got additional booths, and more personnel of RPF and GRP to manage the crowds in addition to assessment at other stations as well.

An antigen test was done on 107 passengers coming on the Thiruvananthapuram-Mumbai train at Kurla LTT and none were found positive

At least 1,239 passengers were screened at Dadar on Thursday where two were found positive. Of the 3,010 passengers screened at Bandra, one was found positive.

"There was not much of a problem on Day 2 as many passengers carried their test reports with them today, making things easier. At Kurla LTT, one booth was added to manage the incoming passengers. But things went smoothly on Thursday as compared to Day 1," a Central Railway spokesperson said.

At Kurla LTT for example, passengers coming on the Thiruvananthapuram-Mumbai train on Thursday were screened and an antigen test of 107 passengers who did not have RT-PCR reports was done. None of them were found to be positive. For this, the BMC had arranged 19 medical and paramedic staff. In addition to RPF and GRP, ticket checking staff was also deployed to monitor crowds.

Following directives by the Maharashtra government, hundreds of passengers arriving from Delhi-NCR, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Goa have been lining up in queues to undergo tests for COVID-19 at stations like Borivli, Dadar, Mumbai Central, LTT Kurla and Mumbai CSMT.

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No. of passengers who were found positive for COVID-19 on ThursdayContinued from page 01

13,253
No. of rail passengers tested on Thursday

No positives at airport with 200 tested in two days

A woman gets tested at the international airport on Wednesday. Pic/Anurag Ahire

In the two days of testing arriving air passengers from high-risk states, none were found to be positive for COVID-19. The state government's latest SOPs on Monday prescribed the possession of a negative RT-PCR test or testing of symptomatic people coming from the high-risk states of Goa, Delhi, Rajasthan and Gujarat.

According to a statement from airport authorities, 200 people who came from these high-risk states till Thursday evening underwent RT-PCR tests at the airport and tested negative. A dedicated zone for testing has been created for such passengers near the baggage carousel.

Also Read: BMC wants your ideas on making Mumbai cleaner

Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) has been offering the RT-PCR test since September 6, when they resumed services after the national lockdown. Initially available for international passengers, the service was later made available for departing passengers and to non-travellers. The facility is located on the curbside of Level 4 at Terminal 2 for departing passengers and non-travellers.

- Gaurav Sarkar

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