AP introduces 20 mobile sample collection vans to facilitate testing
Days after crossing the one million mark in the number of samples tested for COVID-19, Andhra Pradesh government has launched 20 new mobile collection vans, where medical staff would collect swab samples from people having symptoms of the disease and then send them to laboratories for testing, Hindustan Times reported.
The health department of Andhra Pradesh has set up the mobile collection vans and has planned to increase the number of vans by 50 as there exists a demand for testing in the state, Hindustan Times quoted Arja Sreekanth, the nodal officer for COVID-19 as saying. Each van will have 10 counters, he said.
After collecting swab samples from people, medical staff at the vans will send them to the laboratories for testing. Sreekanth said people would receive the test results on their mobiles in the shortest possible time. An auxiliary nurse midwife will be notified about the people giving their samples so that the staff can keep track of their movement.
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In order to help authorities in doing contact-tracing and prevent community spread, the department has decided to send the sample collection vans to bus stands, railway stations and airports. They will also be sent to inter-state borders to collect samples from people arriving in the state, said Sreekanth.
The initiative has been launched after TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu alleged that the state government’s claim of conducting one million COVID-19 tests was a “sham” as test reports were generated without taking samples. Andhra Pradesh is the third state to cross the one-lakh mark in number of tests after Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.
Addition of 1,062 fresh COVID- 19 cases in Andhra Pradesh took the total infections in the state to 22,259, while a record 1,332 patients were discharged from hospitals on Wednesday (July 08). The overall coronavirus toll rose to 264 as 12 new casualties were reported in the last 24 hours.
