Anxiety, anticipation in rapid test centres at ‘red zones’

NEWDELHI: It is largely quiet at the local community hall in Sarita Vihar’s Block A, one of Delhi’s 445 containment zones, as people queue up for a 30-minute test that will determine whether they picked up the Sars-Cov-2 virus. Outside, all businesses are shut and access to the neighbourhood of around 750 families is extremely restricted – as is the exit. In a sudden flutter of activity, officials in bodysuits gather around and ask people to spread out as a woman, in her mid-thirties, finds out she is positive, almost breaks down.

The scene reflects the tense wait common to the hundreds of antigen testing centre around the capital, which have now become equally important as the web of dozens of diagnostic labs that together carry out tests for Covid-19.

The antigen tests, rolled out on June 18 in community halls, schools and banquet halls, offer a result in less than 30 minutes, removing a significant bottleneck in what is the first of the three crucial steps to contain the epidemic: test, trace and isolate.

“We are encouraging people to get tested, and the response has been positive so far. We conduct around 100 Covid-19 tests every day, of which only three or four test positive,” a health department official, who asked not to be named, said outside the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) community hall in the area.

Pocket A houses around 750 families, all of whom are holed up in their DDA-built flats. The colony’s gates are blocked by Delhi Police barricades, cops stand guard outside while health workers keep a close watch on the streets inside the block. Essential service work and deliveries, such as groceries, are allowed only after application for passes are checked by the district magistrate. There were at least eight positives cases on the day the government issued the sealing order. Officials at the spot, who did not wish to be named, said there could be around 20 cases, many with mild or no symptoms.

“It smells like a hospital here,” said Rakesh, a civil defence volunteer deployed in the area to monitor the containment area.

The community hall, which earlier hosted bustling crowds for weddings and birthday parties, is now swarming with health officers in personal protective equipment (PPE) suits and sanitation workers who disinfect every inch of the main hall.

“They have asked me to wait for half an hour. It reminds me of our school days when we waited for the results after the exams. Only this time, it is more serious and the consequences could be fatal,” said Arjun K, a local resident. The collection of the sample – a health worker uses a cottontipped bud to swab the insides of the nose and the throat – takes a quick minute, but it takes another 20 for the stick-like kit to show whether the sample has the virus.

“I know I do not have the virus but I still came to take the test because ours is a containment zone...everyone here is scared,” said Gopal Singh, 35, while for his turn in what was quickly turning into a warm, humid hall.

The facility is centrally airconditioned but officials have kept all doors and windows open in order to minimise the risk of indoor spread of the virus, which has been established to spread the air-conditioning flow.

According to government records, until June 26, of 99,274 people across Delhi surveyed using the rapid antigen method, 7,414 have tested positive, suggesting a positivity rate of 7.46% among them.

“The ICMR [Indian Council of Medical Research] has said the sensitivity of the antigen test is 50-80%. Suppose there are 100 positive cases, and if you apply gold standard tests then all 100 will test positive. But if you apply a test that has 80% sensitivity, that means it will be able to detect 80 such cases. There may be some false-negative cases. But on the positive side, you get results quickly,” said Dr Puneet Mishra, professor of community medicine at the AIIMS, New Delhi, welcoming the antigen testing campaign and urging as many people as possible to get tested.

“To some extent, this will help contain the virus...The government is also doing it for free. But again, until there is a cure, people must maintain social distancing and wear masks,” he added.

Pawan Rohail, a civil defence volunteer says, says he has to take the test once a week. “We work in containment zones for almost 12 hours a day. I can understand what residents must be feeling because we take tests every week and go through the same nervousness. This nervousness has become routine now.”

A fellow civil defence volunteer, Pankaj Kumar, was a marshal on DTC buses to ensure women’s safety. “In the morning we were helping officials ensure social distancing. Now I am back to showing the sanitation worker every inch of space that people had used in the morning,” he said