UP to open more coronavirus testing labs

The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to open more laboratories in medical colleges of the state in a bid to strengthen the coronavirus testing infrastructure, an official said on Monday.

Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Kumar Awasthi said on the directions of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the upgrade of the laboratories in medical colleges of Meerut, Jhansi, Gorakhpur, Saifai, Kanpur, Allahabad and Lucknow has also been initiated.

Molecular labs will be set up at 14 colleges which do not have the facility as of now, he said.

For it, medical colleges in Ambedkar Nagar, Kannauj, Jalaun, Azamgarh, Saharanpur, Banda, Badaun, Gautam Budh Nagar, Ayodhya, Basti, Bahraich, Firozabad, Shahjahanpur and Greater Noida have been selected, he said.

The districts lacking a medical college will have a collection facility in the district hospital, Awasthi said, adding that money for it will made available from the COVID Care Fund.