Locals forcibly shut lab used for COVID-19 testing in Malad

Such lab should not be allowed in the residential colony, the government has enough space where it can be shifted, said Tajinder

In a shocking incident, local residents of Malad forcibly shut the Suburban Laboratory, which has been used for COVID-19 test after the lab defied lockdown orders and social distancing norms amid total lockdown across the country.

The suburban laboratory which has been set up as a collection centre for COVID-19 test is visited by over dozens of people everyday who come for the coronavirus test. When the building residents came to know that the people visiting the lab were defying lockdown orders and no one was following social distancing, they came together and shut down the lab, local social worker Nevda Putman said.

After several complaints, when the P/North BMC ward health department failed to take action against the people who used to visit the lab on a regular basis, hundreds of people of the resident complex shut down the laboratory and later sanitised the entire building premises besides the lab and the bus stop, he added.

While speaking to mid-day, Tajinder Singh Tiwana, President of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha Mumbai said, "Such lab should not be allowed in the residential colony, the government has enough space where it can be shifted." He further said that the people who come here for the test are COVID-19 suspected patients. In such a situation, if any one tests positive, he could infect other as well as the local residents. Thus, coronavirus can spread among people living in the area.

He also said that he had a meeting with the health department including local corporator Jaya Satnam Tiwana and local resident. Post which, the lab was finally shut down in the evening.

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