Mandatory COVID test: Queues at stations, open season on roads on Day 1

Arriving passengers get screened at Bandra Terminus

Arriving travellers all over the city on Wednesday were a bewildered and confused lot, with hardly any of them aware of the new protocols for testing. With the state having made testing of symptomatic patients from Delhi-NCR, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Goa mandatory, civic officials and railway staff were a busy lot, sometimes dealing with passengers unhappy with the testing and refusing to pay, while road transport faced no such restrictions. As mid-day fanned out all over the city, it witnessed a few hiccups and some anxiety, mostly among bus operators worried about business amid a dwindling number of passengers.

Passengers get screened at Borivli railway station

On Day 1 of testing passengers from high-risk states, while not many tested positive, preventing overcrowding and managing arriving, tired passengers will continue to remain a task for authorities. On the other hand, bus tour operators say they are willing to enforce stricter rules. Read on to know how the city fared in the latest phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bandra terminus witnessed a huge crowd of passengers waiting to be tested as two express trains arrived within 10 minutes of each other on Wednesday. Pics/Shadab Khan, Satej Shinde and Rajendra B. Aklekar

Bandra Terminus

A health worker checks the temperature of a family at Bandra Terminus on Wednesday. Pic/Shadab Khan

Around five trains arrived at Bandra Terminus from Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat and New Delhi. Civic medical staff had set up their counters near the exit. While the first set arrived around 4.30 am, the last arrived at 4.15 pm, a railway official said. Over 3,000 were screened. "We have six counters and medical staff has been outsourced. They are working in three shifts. We are not testing everyone. Those who are carrying negative RT-PCR test reports and have no symptoms are allowed to leave," said Dr Priyesh Gori, a medical officer with H East ward.

Symptomatic positive patients were taken to the BMC's jumbo centre at BKC and asymptomatic ones were sent to the CCC2 at IT Park in Kalina.

Scores of passengers were stuck together at Bandra Terminus as two trains arrived together on Wednesday

Passengers were largely unaware of the regulations and were confused about the checking. In one such case, when a child tested positive, his parents insisted that the test was inaccurate and asked for another test.

Also Read: Centre issues new COVID-19 guidelines from December 1, states to enforce strict containment measures

Passenger, Hasnain Qureshi, 24, a Parel resident, who arrived from Ajmer, was surprised when he was asked to join the queue.

Hasnain Qureshi had arrived from Ajmer and wasn't aware of the protocol

The terminus witnessed a situation in the morning as both Kutch Express and Suryanagari Express arrived between 11 am and 11.30 am. The H West ward was testing all passengers irrespective of symptoms, which led to overcrowding.

In a statement, the Western Railway said, "Around 780 passengers alighted from the two trains and passengers of Paschim Express and Suryanagari Express which were to depart also arrived. On normal days, the subways don't get crowded. With civic staff testing all passengers, crowds increased. Those without symptoms were then allowed to go. Also, testing booths were increased from two to six and security was deployed to bring order."

It added, "Considering the incident, the BMC has been asked to set up more testing booths while GRP and RPF personnel will be increased."

Dadar

A health worker at Dadar station on Wednesday. Pic/Ashish Raje

At Dadar station, three express trains arrived till evening. "Five doctors along with 20 lab technicians and 18 paramedic staff were deployed at the station and 175 passengers from Saurashtra Mail, 750 passengers from Bikaner and 900 passengers from a train from Bhuj were screened. There was no resistance over testing," said Kiran Dighavkar, assistant commissioner, G North ward.

Civic health workers conduct antigen tests at Dadar railway stations. Pic/Ashish Raje

Mumbai CSMT

A family which arrived in Gorakhpur Express gets screened at CSMT

Three trains arrived at Mumbai CSMT till 3 pm on Wednesday from stations in the southern or eastern parts of India and no one was found positive.

A total of 143 passengers arrived in Konark Express (Odisha), Hussain Sagar Express (Andhra Pradesh) and Hawra Express (West Bengal). "Out of 143, two were symptomatic but they tested negative." said a health officer of the A ward. There are three shifts with one team each, enough for the number of trains arriving from the shortlisted states.

Mumbai CSMT has one team in each of the three shifts for testing passengers as it has very few trains arriving from the shortlisted states. Pics/Suresh Karkera

Over a 100 passengers who arrived in the Gorakhpur Express from Uttar Pradesh tested negative. While most passengers cooperated, they suggested having more counters. "We have had a long journey of over 36 hours. It is difficult to stand in a queue with family and luggage for a long time," said Suresh Gupta, who has been staying in Mumbai for over 15 years and returned from his village.

Borivli

Arriving passengers get screened at Borivli station on Wednesday. Pics/Satej Shinde

Testing kiosks were set up at the east and west exits of Borivli station. While all passengers expected strict checking, they were surprised that they'd have to do antigen tests for R700. Even those found to be symptomatic at the preliminary screening refused to pay.

Nirali Chokhawala

"We have to do a test if a person is symptomatic. Money can be handled later but we can't let them go without a test," said Dr Soham Pethe from the R Central ward at the East exit. "Fortunately, I had an RTPCR test report so we didn't face any issues," said Nirali Chokhawala, a Surat resident, who arrived at noon on Wednesday.

Raveena Thakkar, arrived from Gujarat

Chokhawala and her husband are heading to the Maldives for a holiday and had a stopover in the city. "Our plans were made a few days ago but the new rules came only two days back. For international holidays, we anyway had to do RT-PCR tests, she said.

Interstate buses

Bus operators have not faced any problems in ticket bookings so far. Pic/Ashish Raje

mid-day interacted with small tour bus operators at Dadar TT and found there were no problems with booking tickets. However, tour operators are worried about another lockdown.

Ramzan Patel at the Neeta Tours booking centre at Dadar TT said, "We have heard about rules for people coming from certain states, which is good. We are taking bookings for Gujarat, Goa, Karnataka. Another lockdown, though, will hit the business very bad."

Pradip Gode, booking agent, Chintamani Travels

Anil Rane from Kashmira Travels, "Things are fine right now but another lockdown will hit small tour operators badly."

A couple of tour operators said that passengers coming from Gujarat were being thermally scanned.

In Borivli, while railway stations are busy following new protocols, road transport appears to be free of them. Around 500 buses arrive daily from Gujarat at the main bus stop near the national park in Borivli. "Since morning, around 200 buses have arrived but no one mentioned anything about testing. We have been asking people to carry a doctor's certificate. Drivers did not report any screening on the road," said Jeetendra Chauhan from Sandip Travels.

Bus operators said the screening of passengers is impossible. "Traffic will line up at Surat if each passenger was to get checked. It is not practical to check each person entering the state. We don't have that kind of manpower or system," said Rajan Nambiar, a private tour operator.

In Andheri East, bus operators were upset that the lucrative holiday season has gone for a toss, with there being no advance bookings. An operator said, "We have had no advance bookings and after the latest order, people are even more scared of travelling. Nobody wants to go even to Goa over the fear of being tested. While this is just the first day and we have some bookings, this season's trend will be clear in a few days."

Another tours and travels operator, Anees Baig, said, "There are no cancellations right now but bookings are not what they used to be. People are travelling only for work."

143
No. of passengers from east and south India

100
No. of passengers from UP

Thane started testing travellers three months ago

Passengers get tested at Thane railway station

The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) enforced testing of all arriving passengers almost three months ago and has tested 78,764 passengers so far, with 329 returning positive.

TMC's Dr Vipin Sharma, municipal commissioner, said testing started on August 30. "We have also begun night-time testing of those arriving from mail-express trains 10 days ago," he said.

During testing at night, 7,113 passengers have been tested with 31 returning positive.

Officials said patients are being moved to isolation centres. While initially two teams were deployed, the number has more than doubled now. Every team has four doctors, four nurses, eight ward boys and 10 assistants.

Antigen tests are conducted on the SATIS bridge near Thane station. Medical teams and officials have been deployed to enforce protocols. The driver intensified as Unlock progressed.

-Rajendra B. Aklekar, Ranjeet Jadhav, Arita Sarkar, Prajakta Kasale, Pallavi Smart and Chetna Sadadekar

Keep scrolling to read more news

Catch up on all the latest Mumbai news, crime news, current affairs, and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates.

Mid-Day is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@middayinfomedialtd) and stay updated with the latest news