Ahead of the festive season when people throng markets for shopping, free RT-PCR tests are being conducted at all malls across the city in an effort to check the spread of COVID-19.
The free tests for the staff of shops at the city’s two major malls in Nazarabad got off to a start on Sunday. This measure will continue until Deepavali is over. The malls are places that attract large crowds for festive shopping. Mobile testing units set up by the Mysuru City Corporation are being used to collect swab samples of the staff and shoppers.
MCC Health Officer D.G. Nagaraj said places attracting large crowds are being focused on at the moment as a precautionary measure. “The cases have come under control in the past few days and we want to ensure that it does not spread, taking all precautions by stepping up the tests,” he said.
Dr. Nagaraj said the details of those whose swab samples had been collected were stored and persons testing positive would be isolated, thereby checking the further spread of the infection.
Free tests are also being planned for industrial workers, he said, adding that static testing teams had been deployed at places that attract crowds such as markets, bus-stands and so on. They shall remain there and continue tests until further instructions. The results of the tests conducted on Sunday are expected by Monday evening.
Meanwhile, cases have continued to fall in Mysuru with 95 testing positive 19 on Monday. This is the second time since last week that the cases had dropped to the two-digit mark.
