The health department held several Covid testing camps across Bokaro district on Monday to try and get a grip on the spread of the coronavirus after 400 positive cases were recorded in the past three days.

The camps drew huge crowds and at some places police had to be deployed to ensure social distancing was maintained.

“Against a target of conducting tests on 75,00 people, the health department team managed to collect swab samples of 5,500 residents till 6 pm,” said district epidemiologist officer Pawan Kumar Srivastava.

He said they would continue to collect samples so that all those who had come for testing on Monday were covered. “More than 40 staffers of the health department have been deployed to conduct the drive where swab samples were tested using Truenat, rapid antigen and RT-PCR kits,” Srivastava said.

While rapid antigen and Truenat test reports are expected to come in by Tuesday, the results of RT-PCR were expected in 72 hours.

Camps were held at Central Coalfield (CCL) offices at Kargali, Dhori and Kathara areas under Bermo subdivision, Electrosteel Steel Plant at Chandankyari and Indian Explosives (IEL) Colony at Gomia. “These companies also provided their lab technicians for swab collection,” said civil surgeon Dr A. K. Pathak.

Tarun Kumar, a local resident who had come to Agrasen Bhavan for testing, complained of the crowd. “There was a massive gathering at the camp. It was very difficult to stand in line for about an hour to reach the point where my swab sample was collected. People who were in que did not realise that not adhering to social distancing made everyone more vulnerable to contracting the virus,” he said.

As on Sunday evening, Bokaro district had 498 active Covid-19 cases of which 178 people had tested positive through the day, the highest 24-hour figure so far.