Published 16:04 IST, June 18th 2020
Union Health Minister launches India's first mobile lab for COVID-19 testing
In an attempt to ramp up COVID-19 testing across the country, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Thursday launched the country's first mobile testing lab
In an attempt to ramp up COVID-19 testing across the country, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Thursday launched the country's first mobile testing laboratory. The innovation is aimed at ensuring testing of COVID-19 in far-flung areas and the inaccessible parts of the country. The Ministry of Science and Technology has collaborated with Andhra Pradesh Med-Tech Zone to address the shortage of critical healthcare technologies in India and progress towards a stage of self-sufficiency.
Explaining the scope of the mobile lab, Harsh Vardhan said, "It has a capability to perform 25 RT-PCR tests per day, 300 ELISA tests per day and additional tests for TB and HIV as per CGHS rates."
The Union Minister also informed that back in February when the Coronavirus impacted India, there was only one lab and now there are 953 laboratories across the country. "Out of these 953, 699 are government labs," he added.
Recovery rate at 51.8 per cent
Amid the rising number of Coronavirus cases, the country's recovery rate continues to steadily improve, informed the Union Health Ministry on Tuesday. The Health Ministry revealed that the country's recovery rate stood at 52.8 per cent recording a total of 1,86,935 recoveries till Tuesday. So far, 3,66,946 positive cases of COVID-19 have been reported with 12,881 being reported in the last 24 hours. AT present, there 1,60,384 active cases, while the death toll has reached 12,237.
Meanwhile, while addressing the PM-CM meeting on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded the steady improvement in the recovery rate emphasizing that India is one of the few countries where deaths due to COVID-19 are the least. He also stated that the country had already started preparing back when the pandemic was not even a part of global discussions. PM Modi stressed on the steps taken by the government to dilute the lockdown and informed that since the past few weeks 'green shoots' have been visible in the Indian economy.
(With inputs from ANI)
Updated 16:04 IST, June 18th 2020