New DelhiDelhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) on Saturday inaugurated the country’s first airport Covid-19 testing facility at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi for arriving international passengers.
Those who wish to avoid a queue can reserve a space through the airport’s website. Since the testing process is expected to generate a sample result in around 6 hours, passengers with connecting flights are advised to maintain a window of 8-10 hours. Those who test negative are exempt from institutional quarantine, but those who test positive will be transferred to a hospital or home or institutional isolation. The aim of the authorities is to separate the infected passengers from the rest to prevent further spread of the disease.
The Covid-19 testing facility at Delhi International Airport will initially handle up to 2,500 samples per day in mid-September and, if necessary, capacity can subsequently be increased to 15,000 samples per day, stated a senior official at the Genestrings Diagnostic Center. : which was reported by PTI earlier this week.
Last Friday, DIAL said on Friday that it installed a Covid-19 testing facility in the multi-level car parking area of Terminal 3, in collaboration with the Genestrings Diagnostic Center, for arriving international passengers who have to take flights. domestic connection.
“We have equipped the lab to handle up to 2,500 samples per day in the first few days. We are ready to rapidly increase our multi-fold testing capacity to up to 15,000 tests per day in this 3,500 square foot facility,” said Dr. Rajat Arora, Director of the Genestrings Diagnostic Center.
The test will cost one passenger ₹2,400, as mandated by the Delhi government, told PTI.
“DIAL & GMR management is working closely with the Ministry of Health to establish this SOP (standard operating procedure) that will be well defined before starting laboratory operations in mid-September,” Arora said.
DIAL, led by the GMR group, operates and maintains the Delhi International Airport.
“Unlike quite a few tests at arrival facilities around the world, there are two key differentiators that we have achieved here in India’s first arrival test lab at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA),” Arora noted.
First of all, this is not just a collection center, but an actual on-site test facility has been set up at the airport, he explained.
Second, “we are committed to reporting within 6 hours of collecting the sample that it will be one of the fastest RT-PCR tests in the world,” he mentioned.
Arora said the company will provide passengers with the option of making reservations and payments online to minimize “touch transactions that could otherwise lead to further transmission of the infection.”
The Civil Aviation Ministry had said on Wednesday that international passengers who must take connecting domestic flights after landing in India will have the option to get tested for COVID-19 at the inbound airports.
If the result of the RT-PCR test is negative, the international passenger will be able to board their connecting national flight and will not have to undergo any institutional quarantine, according to the order of the ministry.
An international passenger who does not have a certificate of negative COVID result from a test carried out no more than 96 hours before the trip and who does not opt for a test facility on arrival at the airport of entry, will be required to undergo seven: quarantine seven-day institutional quarantine followed by seven-day home quarantine.
On August 2, the Union Health Ministry said that if an international passenger has a negative result from an RT-PCR test performed 96 hours before travel, they will not need to undergo institutional quarantine in India.
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