PM Modi launches 3 COVID-19 testing facilities, says testing capacity to reach 10 lakh tests per day

New Delhi, July 28: With an aim to ramp up Covid-19 testing capacity, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched three high throughput COVID-19 testing facilities at Kolkata, Mumbai, and Noida via video conferencing.

 

 

 

Prime Minister said, "These hi-tech state-of-the-art testing facilities will boost the testing capacity by almost 10,000 daily tests." More tests will assist in early detection and treatment and controlling the spread of the virus. These labs will not be limited to testing for COVID, but in the future, will also be able to test for Hepatitis B and C, HIV, Dengue, and several other diseases.

 

 

 

PM Modi emphasized that it was imperative for the country to develop corona specific health infrastructure at a fast pace and the Centre had announced a package of Rs 15,000 crore at the beginning of this battle. The country now has more than 11,000 COVID facilities and more than 11 lakh isolation beds. "In January, we had only one center for the corona test, while today about 1300 labs are working in the whole country for corona testing. Today, more than 5 lakh tests are being conducted in India every day. In the coming weeks, we are trying to upscale it to 10 lakh per day," he said.

 

The virtual conference was attended by Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, along with Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, and Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath.

 

Prime Minister said, "India is in a much more stable position than other countries because the right decisions were taken at the right time in the country. Today, the number of deaths from corona in our country is much less than in big countries. At the same time, the recovery rate here is much higher than in other countries and is improving day by day. Today, the number of people who recovered from corona in India is about to reach 10 lakhs."

 

Later on, he noted that the country has become the second-largest PPE kit manufacturer. The country has progressed from not having even a single PPE kit manufacturer as recently as six months ago, to having more than 1200 manufacturers now, who are producing more than 5 lakh such kits daily. "At one point of time, N-95 masks were also imported from abroad to India. Today more than 3 lakh N-95 masks are being manufactured in India every day. This has not only helped save lives but has also converted India from an importer to an exporter," he said.

 

Prime Minister said that apart from developing the physical infrastructure, the country has also managed to swiftly ramp up human resources including paramedics, ASHA workers, Anganwadis etc, who have played a significant part in controlling the spread of the pandemic. He also spoke about the need to work on continuously attaching new and retired health professionals with the health system in order to prevent fatigue from setting in our corona warriors.

 

Union Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan said that labs to test for COVID are now available all across the country. He also spoke about the Union Home Minister working along with Delhi Chief Minister in order to control the spread of the virus in the national capital. Meanwhile, the Chief Ministers thanked the Prime Minister for the launch of the testing facilities.

 

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray praised the leadership of the Prime Minister in the tough circumstances. He spoke about the ‘chasing the virus’ initiative in Mumbai and also discussed establishing permanent infection hospitals. West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee appreciated the cooperative attitude of the Prime Minister towards the States, spoke about efforts to track cases, use of telemedicine, and also about the need to ramp up facilities in some of the existing labs in the State.

 

Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath expressed his gratitude towards the Prime Minister for his untiring efforts in this fight against the virus. He said, "These labs launched today will dramatically reduce testing time." He mentioned about ramping up testing ability in the State and the plan to increase the number of daily antigen tests.

 

These three high-throughput testing facilities have been set up strategically at 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.

 

These labs will also reduce turn-around-time and exposure of lab personnel to infectious clinical materials. The labs are enabled to test diseases other than COVID as well, and post the pandemic, will be able to test for Hepatitis B and C, HIV, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Cytomegalovirus, Chlamydia, Neisseria, Dengue, etc.