Amid rising cases in India’s financial capital of Mumbai, the civic body has launched a massive exercise to conduct 47,800 Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) on a daily basis in the city’s malls, railway stations and terminals, bus depots, tourist spots, market places and offices.
The BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has asked its officers to maintain ward-wise targets each day for each of the 24 municipal administrative wards.
“The RAT will be carried out without the consent of people who are present at various crowded places. If a citizen refuses to test, it would be treated as an offence under Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897,” according to the order signed by Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal.
At railway stations for inbound trains originating or passing from Delhi, Rajasthan Gujarat, Goa, and Kerala or from Maharashtra's Vidarbha region, the passengers randomly would be subjected to tests in Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Mumbai Central, Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, Bandra Terminus, Andheri Borivli and Dadar.
Similar RATs would be conducted on arriving passengers at Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation depots of Parel, Kurla, Mumbai Central and Borivli.
At each railway station/terminus or bus depots, 1,000 tests would be conducted on a daily basis.
The BMC has also identified 27 malls in the city where tests would be conducted – at least on 400 visitors.
Besides, each ward will conduct 1,000 tests in crowded places like hotels and restaurants, beaches, khau-gallis, hawking zones, tourist spots, market places and various government offices.