The rapidly rising number of cases has had thousands of people rushing to get tested at their nearest health centers. Clinics in Qatar are witnessing an overwhelming amount of demand for PCR tests and this has majorly affected many travelers’ plans. The drive-thru centers that have been set up for ease and convenience seem to be crowded at all times.

A person traveling to India has claimed that when he reached a private clinic at 5 am, he was given the 153^rd token and the clinic couldn’t give any more tokens to the people in waiting post 7 am.

Another Twitter user posted a picture that showed a long line of cars outside a health center, waiting to get their Covid-19 swab tests done. He quoted that this has been going on for the past two days and a lot of people have been unable to leave their homes without receiving their test results.

The clinics are usually provided a fixed number of slots for testing and these are running out in the morning itself. The clinics have now alerted people that their test results will take more time to process. In some cases, the results are delayed for more than 48 hours.

A source from a private clinic has stated that since the last two weeks, there’s been a lot of delay in receiving results for RT-PCR tests. In some cases, it has taken 36–48 hours and even 70 hours for some. Clinics are also giving out the disclaimer that it is entirely the individual’s discretion to decide if they want to take a test at their clinic, because there’s certainly no guarantee on the minimum time to process the results.

People who have planned to travel to countries that require a PCR test taken within the last 48 hours are faced with a dilemma as this could potentially affect their travel plans. Many have had to change their travel dates as they couldn’t get their tests done on time. Travelers are wondering if they could be given preference for obtaining the test reports as this little hindrance could possibly derail their whole travel plan and cost them money.

Even test reports are not given to the people as it is mandatory for them to come to the clinics to collect them, and this has caused another massive line-up. Clinics are hoping that the volume becomes bearable in the coming few weeks.

 ------

Make sure to check out our social media to keep track of the latest content. 

Instagram - @qatarliving

Twitter - @qatarliving

Facebook - Qatar Living

YouTube - qatarlivingofficial

Source and Cover image credit: The Peninsula and Twitter