Authorities in Mumbai are allowing people to get coronavirus tests without doctor’s prescriptions as India’s soaring virus numbers overwhelm the public health system. Health workers are conducting door to door Covid-19 testing.
The move which came into effect this week is in contrast with the rules in other major Indian cities where a doctor’s prescription is mandatory to get tested for the virus.
“We want to test as many people as possible,” said Iqbal Singh Chahal, a senior administrative official in Mumbai.
More than 5,000 people have died because of the virus in Mumbai, a coastal city known as India’s financial capital and home to the Bollywood.
The low rate of coronavirus tests in India has been a concern ever since the virus cases started to surge in the country.
India’s Covid-19 numbers are threatening its economic recovery and sharpening differences between states and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s federal government.
This week India surpassed Russia to become the third worst-hit country with more than 740,000 Covid-19 infections. The surging virus numbers have all but overwhelmed the public health system, which the states are responsible for. It’s also piling on pressure on local governments at a time when they’re scrambling to restart economic activity.
The country’s sudden lockdown — imposed without consulting state governments — shattered the already troubled economy. All non-essential activity stalled and state tax collections fell sharply, pushing local governments to ask the federal government for funds in order to avoid racking up debt.
The money crunch is putting everything — from the salaries of government employees to their ability to fight the virus — at risk.
“My understanding of the Indian Constitution says that if states are in distress, the government of India should come to their aid,” said Manpreet Singh Badal, finance minister of the northern state of Punjab, which is ruled by the opposition Congress party. “Forget creating jobs and reviving the economy, we will be subsisting from quarter to quarter.” Punjab is set to lose a third of its expected annual revenues of 880 billion rupees ($11.7 billion), Badal said.
India imposed one of the world’s largest and strictest virus lockdowns from end-March and began easing restrictions starting April 20 even as infections continued to surge.
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