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

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

Additional Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan said the state government has ramped up its COVID-19 testing capability by ten times with the 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 the spread of contagion.

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

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

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

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

In addition, the 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.

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

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

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