52 labs made functional across India for coronavirus testing

In the wake of 31 confirmed cases of coronavirus in India so far, the Union health ministry has made functional 52 laboratories for testing samples while 57 labs have been designated for helping in sample collection for COVID-19to enhance capacity for diagnosis and detection of the disease.

"Following the increase in load of screening samples from suspected cases with symptoms and travel history to the affected countries, the Department of Health Research/ICMR has commissioned 52 laboratories for COVID-19 testing in India," an official said.

As on March 6, a total of 4,058 samples from 3,404 individuals have been tested by the network. This includes testing of 1,308 samples from 654 individuals evacuated from Wuhan, China and quarantined at ITBP and Manesar Camp and tested twice on days 0 and 14.

Subsequently, another 236 individuals evacuated from Wuhan and Diamond Princess Ship, Japan on February 27were tested on day 0. Repeat testing will be done on day 14.

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Friday sought strict action against those charging inflated prices for face masks. During a review meeting on coronavirus outbreak, he stressed on the importance of states keeping quarantine facilities, isolation wards and testing labs in active readiness.

So far, India has 31 confirmed cases of the infection, which includes 16 Italians, while nearly 29,000 people have been put under observation.

Vardhan held the meeting with health ministers and chief secretaries of all states and Union Territories, central ministers and representatives from organisations concerned through video conferencing and underlined the importance of communicating with the masses and rasing awareness about steps to prevent spread of the virus.

In Andhra Pradesh, labs at SriVenkateswaraInstituteofMedicalSciences in Tirupati, AndhraMedicalCollege in Visakhapatnam and GMC,Anantapur have been made operational while in Assam, labs at GauhatiMedicalCollege in Guwahati and RegionalMedicalResearchCentre,Dibrugarh have been activated.

In Bihar, RajendraMemorialResearchInstituteofMedicalSciences,Patna, in Chandigarh, the PostGraduateInstituteofMedicalEducation&Research and AIIMS in Chhattisgarh have the designated laboratories.

In Delhi, the facility of sample testing has been made available atAIIMS and the NationalCentreforDiseaseControl while in Gujarat, the facilites are available in BJMedicalCollege in Ahmedabad and M.P.ShahGovernmentMedicalCollege in Jamnagar.

Laboratories in Pt.B.D.SharmaPostGraduateInst.ofMed.Sciences in Rohtak and BPSGovtMedicalCollege in Sonipat in Haryana have been made functional while the IndiraGandhiMedicalCollege in Shimla and Dr RajendraPrasadGovt Med.College, Kangra,Tanda have been activated in Himachal Pradesh.

Testing facilities have been activated in Sher-I-Kashmir InstituteofMedicalSciences in Srinagar and GovernmentMedicalCollege of Jammu.

Laboratories in BangaloreMedicalCollege&ResearchInstitute and NationalInstituteofVirologyFieldUnit in Bangalore, MysoreMedicalCollege&ResearchInstitute of Mysore, HassanInst.ofMed.Sciences,Hassan and ShimogaInst.ofMed.Sciences, in Shivamogga have been designated as authorised ones in Karnataka.

NationalInstituteofVirologyFieldUnit and Govt.MedicalCollege, Thriuvananthapuram, and Govt.MedicalCollege,Kozhikhodehave the testing laboratories in Kerala.

Besides, AIIMS,Bhopal and NationalInstituteofResearchinTribalHealth(NIRTH),Jabalpur have been designated for testing in Madhya Pradesh.

SawaiManSingh in Jaipur and Dr.S.NMedicalCollege in Jodhpur, JhalawarMedicalCollege,Jhalawar and SPMed.College,Bikaner in Rajasthan have testing facilities while GandhiMedicalCollege in Secunderabad and King'sGeorgeMedicalUniversity,Lucknow, InstituteofMedicalSciences,BanarasHinduUniversity,Varanasiand JawaharlalNehruMedicalCollege,Aligarh have been authorised to carry out tests for coronavirus.

Also, testing facilities have been made operational at GovernmentMedical College of Haldwani in Uttarakhand and the National Institute of CholeraandEntericDiseases and IPGMER in Kolkata in West Bengal among others.