Kudos! India's 1st Indigenously Built Walk-In COVID-19 Test Kiosks Become Functional In Kerala

South Korea had won praises from across the world for how the country conducted mass testing of COVID-19 suspects. The country that has a population of 51 million tested 395,194 individuals, in one of the most widespread COVID-19 screening anywhere in the world.

According to health experts, it was this aggressive screening that helped South Korea, which had the potential to become one of the worst-hit countries to reduce the fatalities to 162. The country had a total of 9,786 confirmed cases, and 5,408 have recovered so far.

One of the things that South Korea did was to put up a walk-in COVID-19 testing booth where anyone could just walk in and in less than 10 minutes they can get tested, and leave the site.

On Monday, India got its first walk-in COVID-19 testing facility. Kerala's Ernakulam district administration on Monday launched the first-of-its-kind contact-free Walk-in Sample Kiosk (WISK) to keep health workers safe while taking samples to test for COVID-19.

AFP

The WISK was designed by a team under Dr. Ganesh Mohan, RMO of Kalamassery Medical College.

"This is being used in India most likely for the first time. And this targetting mass screening. This will reduce the need for more PPE kits, and we will be able to test more in less time. This will first start at Kalamassery Medical College," District Collector S Suhas said.

I&PRD ERNAKULAM

"This will help us collect samples from a large number of people. There is no direct contact between the health worker and the person being tested while collecting the samples. It takes nearly Rs 40,000 to set up a WISK," he said.

"Currently, we have two WISKs. They will be used at Kalamassery Medical College where COVID-19 patients are under treatment. If required, more WISKs can be developed at short notice," he added.

I&PRD ERNAKULAM

The WISK is a small cabin that is closed from four sides with one side having a glass wall with an opening. The person being tested is seated outside the glass wall through which two rubber gloves are attached outside. The health worker has to insert a hand in the rubber gloves and collect swab samples and blood samples from the patients. The rubber gloves and the cabin is disinfected after each sample collection.

Since February, when the first cases of COVID-19 were reported in India, Kerala has recorded a total of 327 positive cases out of which 59 have recovered and 2 deaths. Till Monday, Kerala had tested 10716 samples, one of the highest in the country. Recently Kerala had also launched rapid tests with an aim to screen more suspected cases.