Narrating the ordeal, a passenger said people are having to spend up to two hours in queue to get themselves tested.
There are two options to get tested – passengers can pay Rs 3,500 for a Rapid PCR test in which the result comes within 2 hours; the alternative is taking a regular RT-PCR test for Rs 500 and spending 6-8 hours waiting for the result.
That’s not all. Add to this a wait of up to two hours at the immigration desks, also crowded.
Despite the long wait and the high costs, there are questions regarding how effectively the surveillance norms are being implemented.
While the passenger’s boarding pass has a seven-day home quarantine stamp, no phone calls or any other form of follow-up has been made in the past 24 hours.
The Delhi airport authorities yesterday announced that 20 dedicated counters have been opened for passengers who pre-book their Rapid PCR or RT-PCR tests before flying in.
They will save the time taken for registration and will proceed directly for testing, they said.
With inputs from NDTV