Rapid antigen tests for Covid-19 are being conducted in New Town with a focus on household workers in senior citizen’s homes, construction labourers, shopkeepers and e-rickshaw drivers.

The New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) and the state health department have opened a testing centre between the Condor building and the Rosedale Garden complex in Action Area III.

The tests, which started on Thursday, are being conducted free and results are available within 30 minutes. One can turn up at the centre between 10am and 2.30pm any day to get tested.

“We are focussing on household help, shopkeepers and e-rickshaw (toto) drivers because they come in contact with a large number of people daily. If they are infected by the coronavirus, the risk of it spread among a larger group is high. Construction workers are also being given priority because many of them, engaged at various sites in New Town, have tested positive,” an NKDA official said.

The NKDA will reach out to these groups and try to convince them to get tested.

“We want to get domestic help, especially those hired by senior citizens, because they move from one house to another,” said NKDA chairman Debashis Sen. The agency will approach residents’ associations and block associations to prepare a list of domestic help.

A cell will be set up to trace contacts of those testing positive and arrangements will be made to get the contacts tested as well, the official said. If any of those testing negative has mild or moderate symptoms of Covid-19, he or she will be subjected to the confirmatory RT-PCR test after a check by doctors at the centre.

“The move will bring tests closer to doorsteps so more people can be brought under surveillance. We want to increase the number of tests in all hotspots,” an official said.

Residents who want to get themselves tested can do so by calling the 24X7 New Town helpline — 1800-103-7652. After getting an appointment, one can download a form from the Hidco or the NKDA website. The forms can also be downloaded from https://www.wbhidcoltd.com/uploads/announcement/Ann841.pdf.

“To save time, one can take a printout of the filled-in form and report at the testing centre,” an official said.

Twenty-eight tests were performed on Thursday and Friday. One person’s report came positive.