PM launches 3 ICMR labs to boost testing capacity by 30k

COVID SURVEILLANCE State-of-the-art labs have been set up in Mumbai, Kolkata, Noida

NEWDELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday launched three state-of-the-art high throughput Indian Council of Medical Research labs in Mumbai, Kolkata, and Noida to further ramp up the country’s daily Covid-19 testing capacity by 30,000. Speaking on the occasion, he said over 500,000 tests were being conducted in the country daily, and efforts were underway to increase the capacity to a million in the coming weeks.

The tests are being conducted using both real-time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and antigenbased testing. According to government data, at least 25% of the daily testing is antigen-based. It is quicker, cheaper, and easier to perform than the RT-PCR testing, which remains the gold standard for diagnosing Covid-19, experts say.

Modi said more tests will assist

early detection and treatment, and thereby help fight the virus spread. “These labs will not be limited to testing for Covid-19, but in future, will also be able to test for other diseases such as hepatitis B and C, HIV, dengue, tuberculosis among others,” said Modi while launching the labs. “Opening of these facilities will provide us the necessary strength required to scale up testing in states such as Maharashtra, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi. These are also cities with maximum economic activity so there is a larger movement of people. With the help of these facilities, our teams will be able to process a larger number of samples in one go.” Modi cited the government’s pre-emptive and proactive efforts and added it was due to these timely decisions that India is better placed as compared to other countries in terms of the Covidrelated deaths.

India’s recovery rate is also higher than in other countries and is improving on a daily basis. The total number of people who have recovered from the virus is about to reach a million.

Modi said the Centre announced ₹15,000 crore package at the beginning of this battle and that the country now has over 11,000 Covid-19 facilities and more than 1.1 million isolation beds. “While the country had only one Covid-19 testing centre in January, there are almost 1,300 such labs now.”

Modi said from not having even a single personal protection equipment kit manufacturer as recently as six months ago, India now has over 1,200 manufacturers now, who are producing more than 500,000 such kits daily. “From being dependent on imports, now more than 3 lakh [300,000] N-95 masks are being produced in the country daily. The annual production capacity of ventilators has become 3 lakh [300,000] and there has also been a significant increase in the production of medical oxygen cylinders. This has not only helped save lives but has also converted India to an exporter.”

Modi asked people to be careful during the coming festive season as chances of the virus spread are higher. Dr T Jacob John, a former virology department head at Vellore’s Christian College, said as cases are rising, more samples need to be tested quickly.