Only 10 samples were collected on Tuesday from the densely populated Ganganagar, where a woman was tested novel coronavirus positive on Saturday.

However, the locality has been made a containment zone by the district administration.

A resident, Babloo Kumar, said the collection of limited samples have become a matter of concern among the locals because they are afraid of picking up the virus but not knowing about it.

“The woman tested positive on Saturday. After waiting for two days, a medical team turned up and collected only 10 samples from the locality. This has left people here worried as they were expecting screening and testing of each resident of the locality to stop the spread of the virus,” Babloo said.

Another resident, Divya Kumari, echoed Babloo.

“On one hand the administration has made Ganganagar a containment zone and on the other it seems least bothered about collection and testing of swab samples,” Divya said.

Informed about the concerns of the people, sub-divisional officer of Ranchi sadar Lokesh Kumar Mishra told The Telegraph: “Necessary information has been provided to the civil surgeon of the district for testing.”

Ranchi civil surgeon Vijay Bihari Singh, on his part, said: “It is still being decided whose samples will be taken and who will be screened.”

Circle officer of Hehal circle Dilip Kumar said samples were taken in accordance to the government guidelines.

“The guideline suggests collection of swab from those who are in direct contact with Covid-19 patients, while there is provision of screening of those who are secondary contacts. If those on the secondary contact list are found to be suspects, their samples will be taken for test,” Kumar said. “Screenings will start tomorrow (Wednesday).”

But residents are citing the example of Hindpiri, the first containment zone in the capital. “There were too few tests in Hindpiri too, and so the infection spread. There is an old saying that a stitch in time saves nine but it appears that the administration isn’t aware of this. The slow progress of swab collection and testing will only spread the virus faster,” said a resident of Ganganagar, Manoj Kumar.