Mumbai: BMC asks labs to give Covid test results in 24 hours, prioritise symptomatic patients

Mumbai's civic body has instructed labs to deliver Covid-19 test results within 24 hours and give priority to symptomatic patients.

Mumbai's civic body has taken a slew of decisions to counter the recent surge in Covid-19 cases, BMC Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said on Monday. These decisions include appointments of nodal officers to ensure that jumbo hospitals and rooms to isolate patients in each ward operate smoothly. All labs testing samples for coronavirus have been directed to ensure a turn-around time of 24 hours. Orders have also been issued to give priority to swabs of symptomatic patients. An order by the BMC on Monday said nodal officers will be responsible for the operations of the 24 'Ward War' rooms and seven jumbo field hospitals, especially between 11 pm and 7 am. The nodal officers will work in two shifts, from 3 pm to 11 pm and from 11 pm to 7 am.