Bollywood actress Preity Zinta has been jet-setting around in order to attend her IPL team, Kings XI Punjab’s cricket matches. Due to the ongoing pandemic, though, doing so involves taking a lot of precautions. Preity wrote about it on her Instagram: “It starts with a 6 day quarantine, covid tests every 3-4 days and no going out – only ur room, designated #KXIP restaurant & gym & of course the stadium in ur car. The drivers, chefs etc are also in the bio bubble & quarantined so No food from outside & no people interaction. (sic)”
While we love that she’s setting a good example, there seems to be a problem. She was recently in Dubai to attend a match, and posted a video of herself getting a COVID-19 test done. Speaking of the experience, Preity said, “She is amazing. She’s the best person to get the Covid test done with because it never hurts.” Many who watched the video commented that the test wasn’t done correctly.
Here’s what people had to say about the way she was tested
Celebrity fitness instructor Deanne Panday subtly pointed this out, saying: “Yours was so easy… I have taken five and they push the swab right inside further into your nose.”
Another commenter, @dr.harshad.fitness, commented, “To be honest, that wasn’t a good technique of taking a nasopharyngeal swab. The stick needs to go all the way in till the back of the nose along the floor of the nasal cavity, for which the angles of the stick also has to be more vertical. I would suggest getting repeat tests done with the correct technique, for all of those who needed testing. You wouldn’t want a false negative test report.”
While Preity seems fine, here’s why false negatives are dangerous
Now, anyone who knows how a COVID test is done, or has had one done, would know if the way Preity had herself tested is correct or not. But, the more important question here is, are COVID tests being taken seriously? After all, for someone who has to travel, getting a COVID positive result can mean losing money on tickets and bookings. But for those this person would have come in contact with should the test result have been a false negative, it could have serious health consequences, even resulting in death. So, taking COVID testing seriously is the need of the hour if we want the world to go back to normal and live free of the coronavirus.
Lead Image Credits: Preity Zinta via Instagram