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

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

nNEW DELHI: 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 Covid-related deaths.

India’s recovery rate is also higher than in other countries