The rampant use of self-test COVID-19 kits is proving to be a health hazard for pourakarmikas collecting dry waste from households as well as those who segregate them at Dry Waste Collection Centres (DWCCs).
Video: Covid-19 self-test kits posing health hazard in Bengaluru
Since the beginning of January 2022, during the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a rise in discarded masks, including the reusable kind made of cloth. Now, home test kits are also found mixed with household waste instead of being set aside as bio-medical waste.
Kumuda, who works at a waste collecting centre in J.P. Nagar, posted a video saying: “Women working in our centres are afraid to segregate waste, and many of them have fallen sick.” She suggested that pharmacies selling self-test kits inform customers that they should discard them separately as bio-medical waste. The video clip, which has gone viral on social media, shows hundreds of used kits at the collection centre.
