Coronavirus: Awaiting 10 lakh rapid testing kits from ICMR, says Punjab govt

Punjab government on Wednesday said it isawaiting arrival of 10 lakh rapid testing kits from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to screen people for coronavirus in state.

Additional Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan said state government has ramped up its COVID-19 testing capability by ten times with procurement of five Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR)and four RNA extraction machines (with automation) at a cost of Rs 2.31 crores and is also preparing to launch rapid testing from April 10 to check spread of contagion.

rapid testing, a kind of blood test, gives quick results in comparison to current swab-based examination.

While 10 lakh rapid testing kits, already ordered from ICMR, are awaited, state government has also floated an inquiry in open market for ar 10000 kits, said Mahajan.

Antibody testing through rapid testing kits has also w been allowed by ICMR in hotspots to check community spread of coronavirus, she said in a release.

With new equipment, testing capacity of Viral Research Diagstic Labs (VRDL) in Government Medical Colleges at Patiala and Amritsar has gone up to 400 each from existing 40, said Mahajan, adding that toger se two labs have so far tested 1958 samples.

In addition, Guru Gobind Singh Medical College & Hospital Faridkot has been put on fast-track for testing approval. It will have an initial capacity of 40 tests per day.

Apart from state's own labs, PGIMER Chandigarh has also been carrying out about 40 tests daily of samples from Punjab. About 650 tests have been carried out by PGI till date, she said.

state government has also sought urgent approvals from central government for allowing similar testing facilities at DMC and CMC Ludhiana. 

Both Ludhiana hospitals have already acquired necessary equipment and applied for NABL certification after which ICMR approval would be sought, said Mahajan.

Samples are being collected by health department teams from various districts of Punjab, which w has 106 confirmed COVID-19 cases. 

Im Credits: PTI