PM to launch three labs today to help ramp up testing

nNEWDELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch high throughput Covid-19 testing facilities in Noida, Mumbai and Kolkata on Monday to ramp up testing capacity and help strengthen early detection and treatment, the Prime Minister’s Office said.

High throughput faculties allow experiments or screening that large scale or on higher volume.

These centres will be able to test over 10,000 samples in a day, and reduce turnaround time and exposure of lab personnel to infectious clinical materials.

“The three high throughput testing facilities have been set up strategically at ICMR institutions -- National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research in Noida, National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health in Mumbai and National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases in Kolkata,” the PMO said in the statement.

The virtual launch of these centres will be attended by union health minister Harsh Vardhan and Maharashtra CM, Uddhav Thackeray, West Bengal CM , Mamata Banerjee and Uttar Pradesh Cm,yogi Adityanath.

“The labs are enabled to test diseases other than COVID-19 as well, and post the pandemic, will be able to test for Hepatitis B and C, HIV, mycobacterium tuberculosis, cytomegalovirus, chlamydia, neisseria and dengue,” the statement said.

On Sunday, the PM in his radio broadcast Mann KI Baat cautioned against letting the guard down and said people should refrain from taking off the masks during interaction.