Free tests, result in 48 hours: Inside Vijayawada’s mobile testing facility for Covid-19

In May, the Andhra Pradesh government launched mobile testing for Covid in Vijayawada, using four buses. Now, they are looking to step it up across the state.

A Vijayawada resident is tested at one of the mobile testing facilities | Photo: Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

Vijayawada: The first mobile testing facility in Andhra Pradesh was launched in Vijayawada’s Krishna district in May, with buses stationed outside the railway station and airport, at the border with Telangana and at the Assembly. Now, more have been added across the state, and the government is looking to increase this number further.

The mobile testing buses which offer free tests are on duty for 24 hours, seven days a week. There are two shifts of 12 hours. The resident whose swab samples are collected, along with their contact details, will know the result in 48 hours.

As of now, the state had recorded more than more than 5,500 Covid-19 cases.

ThePrint’s photojournalist Suraj Singh Bisht visited the mobile testing facility at the Vijayawada railway station.

Laboratory technicians and doctors seated inside a mobile Covid-testing facility set up in a bus at Vijayawada’s railway station. | Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

A doctor in protective gear sits inside a bus that has been turned into a Covid testing facility at the railway station in Vijayawada | Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

After reaching Vijayawada by train, passengers have to register for a swab test | Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

A woman sweeps in and around a bus in Vijayawada that has been pressed into service as a testing site. Each bus even has an isolation ward | Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

A woman shows her identity card at a mobile testing facility in Vijayawada | Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

People stand in queue to wait their turn to be tested for Covid-19 | Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint