Rapid RT-PCR for passengers now results in 45 minutes
International travelers will have to carry a coronavirus negative certificate even if they are fully vaccinated against the virus, amid the revision of travel restrictions.
Nagpur: The airport of this city has provided a very fast RT-PCR facility for international passengers on the route Sharjah-Nagpur-Sharjah. The samples of these passengers are being collected at the airport itself and the results are distributed for premium in 45 minutes.
International travelers will have to carry a coronavirus negative certificate even if they are fully vaccinated against the virus, amid the revision of travel restrictions.
Simultaneously, the private lab has been tasked to set up its kiosk at the airport around 10 pm to start collecting samples of those flying out of the country. And later the same lab representatives are engaged in taking swab samples of passengers arriving on the Sharjah-Nagpur flight.
Incoming passengers also have to wait for around 2 hours to get their RT-PCR test results.
3,500 is the cost of the Rapid RT-PCR Test. Whereas the regular test fee for incoming passengers is Rs 600 only.
On Sunday when the first flight resumed after 10 months, Then the airport administration has ensured that the passengers have given their swab samples long before the immigration formalities.
Two PCR kits in the lab
Lab staff has collected 42 samples till 7 am in morning. And immediately arrived for the first time in 1 ambulance to get the PCR test run. And the next lot of 39 has come after some time.
The lab has 2 PCR kits, one with a delivery speed of 45 minutes and the other with a 1.06-hour delivery speed. And the sample extraction is automated and the process of others is completed in the next several minutes. And the result comes from these machines in 1 hour.
The lab staff has said that it takes 1.15-1.30 hours to release the test results. They have said that they do not wait for all the samples to be collected. But to speed up the process, they have to be loaded a lot.
The airport has asked to submit the report within 3 hours for all the passengers coming from the lab.
The lab staff has said that they have also asked for ‘S’ Gene Target Failure (SGTF) kit from Mumbai. But they have been asked to wait for about 15 days.
The director of the lab has said that Earlier RT-PCR required at least 10 to 12 hours for test results. And this was because the lab used to get a very large number of samples. What the laboratories were facing right now at the peak of the first and second wave of covid. There is hardly any workload comparable to that. The process of RT-PCR depends on the kit. Many also have a delivery time of around 1.20 hours and some around 1.40 hours etc. Because of this, if only one sample is given, then a lab can give results in 1.05 hours on any given day.
Also Read: 11 new cases were reported in Nagpur district
