New Delhi. In order to ramp up testing capacity in the country and help in strengthening early detection and treatment, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch ‘high throughput COVID-19 testing’ facilities on July 27 via video conferencing. These facilities will assist in controlling the spread of the pandemic.
These three high-throughput testing facilities have been set up strategically at ICMR-National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research, Noida; ICMR-National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health, Mumbai; and ICMR-National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, Kolkata, and will be able to test over 10,000 samples in a day.
These labs will also reduce turn-around-time and exposure of lab personnel to infectious clinical materials. The labs are enabled to test diseases other than COVID-19 as well, and post the pandemic, will be able to test Hepatitis B and C, HIV, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Cytomegalovirus, Chlamydia, Neisseria, Dengue, etc.
The Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Minister of Science & Technology, along with Chief Ministers of different states including Maharashtra, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh will also be participating in the event.
