Social distancing norms violated during swab sample collection in Andhra Pradesh

Vijayawada: Social distancing went for a toss as several people thronged the Indira Gandhi Municipal Corporation Stadium to get their swab samples tested by staff in iMASQ buses on Tuesday (June 24). A similar rush was noticed at other venues — Krishna Lanka, Gandhi High School, Makineni Basavapunnaiah Stadium, near Gunadala Mary Matha Temple and Vijayawada Railway Station.

“I reached the stadium along with my wife and kids around 6 am. None of the officials bothered to inform us till 10 am about the procedure to be followed for testing. The district administration set up a call centre no. 9963112781 for enrollment; it does not work,” Mannem Naresh, a resident of Labbipet, said.

As per the schedule announced by the officials, the iMASQ buses were to commence collecting swab samples from the public between 8 am and 5 pm. But the iMASQ buses turned up around noon at the respective venues much to the inconvenience of the public.

“As per the directions from the health department officials, we made arrangements at the testing venues. But rainfall during early hours of the day, delayed us. From tomorrow, the testing procedure will begin at 8 am at the respective venues,” a VMC sanitary supervisor said.

Meanwhile, following moderate showers, the testing procedure got suspended from 4 pm at all venues.