Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to launch 3 throughput COVID-19 testing facilities on Monday via video conferencing in order to increase the testing capacity in the country. In addition to this, they will also help in strengthening the detection rate in the earlier stages and in ramping up the treatment in order to combat the pandemic.
These facilities are to be set up in three places in the country, namely ICMR-National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research, Noida; ICMR-National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health, Mumbai; and ICMR-National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, Kolkata, and will be able to test over 10,000 samples in a day.
Live Mint reported that this lab will also reduce the turnaround time and exposure of clinical personnel to infectious chemical materials. These are to be enabled to test diseases other than COVID-19 as well and touted to be used for testing Hepatitis B and C, Dengue, Tuberculosis, HIV, Chlamydia etc.
Meanwhile, India reported a spike of 48,661 COVID-19 cases on Sunday, taking the total number of reported cases to13,85,522, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The total count includes 4,67,882 active cases,8,85,577 cured, discharged or migrated.