UAE fights coronavirus: Thousands of workers tested at new centre, get results in 48 hours

Abu Dhabi - The workers are divided into three zones based on their symptoms and medical history.

Thousands of residents and blue-collar workers have been screened at the newly launched Covid-19 testing facility in Abu Dhabi's industrial area of Musaffah and results made available within 48 hours, a top health official said.
The facility, to support the National Screening Project, was introduced by Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (Seha) and aims to screen 335,000 people.
"We have a capacity of around 10,000 per day. Anyone from Mussafah can come here. In the last three days, we received an average of 6,000 to 7,000 persons per day. We did nasal swab test for around 4,000 in last three days. The number of workers coming in is increasing but our absorption for higher number is very good. We have a staff of 100, including physicians, nurses, phlebotomist and volunteers," Dr Noura Al Ghaithi, Chief Operations Officer, Ambulatory Healthcare Services, Seha, told Khaleej Times.
"The result will take a maximum of 48 hours. We are keen on getting results as fast as possible in case a person is Covid-positive, in turn controlling the spread of infection."
Red, yellow and green
Seha has built a fully air-conditioned centre with colour-coded marked zones that correspond with the severity of the cases.
Al Ghaithi added: "In Zone 1, we conduct health awareness so that people can implement precautionary measures in their daily lives even if they are not infected.
"The next step is triaging, where we check vital signs such as oxygen saturation, temperature, and if they have a history of chronic disease or show any symptoms.
"Then there is a categorising process based on which people are designated wrist bands of colours - green, yellow and red.
The green category: "Those who are young, don't have any symptoms or chronic diseases and have had no contact with positive cases. We will give them further awareness about the virus and they can leave."
The yellow category: "People with mild symptoms have to be tested as they are suspect cases. Nasal swab test will be done for them.
The red category: "This is for those who are elderly, have a chronic disease and have symptoms. They will undergo a nasal swab test, after which they will be  moved to the medical centre, where our physician will do further examinations such as X-ray, ECG, blood test.
"Based on the examination, we take a decision. Some of the cases are directly transferred to the hospital as they show signs of pneumonia or chest infection.

• Abu Dhabi