HYDERABAD: Despite labs of two companies conducting RT-PCR tests at the RGIA, passengers who came on international flights complained that they had to wait for several hours on Thursday.
Confusion prevailed after a few passengers tested positive and the process grew longer as the lab had to retest them as ‘reconfirmation’, according to a passenger, C Venugopal. “Many travellers are waiting since the last 7-8 hours for getting test results at Hyderabad airport. Horrible situation inside the airport, no one is there to answer,” tweeted NRI Venugopal. He also tagged MAUD Minister KT Rama Rao.
Later, the RGIA tweeted, “We regret the inconvenience caused and have highlighted this to our relevant team. Request you to kindly share your flight and location details with a contact number for us to assist you immediately.”
2% from non-risk nations being tested
On average, 3,500 international passengers arrive at RGIA every day. Currently, there are one or two flights per day from ‘At-risk’ countries. All passengers from these nations are being tested. In the case of those coming from non-risk nations, only 2% are randomly tested at the airport on arrival. “Children below five years of age are exempted from the test. However, if symptoms are found in symptomatic children, then the test will be done, and further action will be taken,” RGIA officials informed.
In recent days, the RGIA has set up another lab facility being operated by Lucid, apart from the already present Mapmygenome lab.