PM Modi to launch 'high throughput COVID-19 testing facilities' to ramp up testing

In order to ramp up the COVID testing facilities in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to launch 'high throughput COVID-19 testing' facilities', set up at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) centres to strengthen early detection and treatment of COVID. The 'high throughput COVID-19 testing' facilities' will be launched by the PM via video conference on July 27. According to an official release by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare and Science and Technology, along with Chief Ministers of Maharashtra, West Bengal, and Uttar Pradesh will be participating in the event. 

"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," the release said.

Read: US Records 68,212 New Coronavirus Cases And 1,067 More Fatalities In 24 Hours

Read: Number Of Coronavirus Cases Worldwide Tops 16 Million

The PMO's release added that these labs, set up across different ICMR centres in the state would help in the reduction of turn-around-time and exposure of lab personnel to infectious clinical materials. It also stated that even post the pandemic, the labs would continue to function since they would be enabled to test diseases other than COVID as well. Some of these would be Hepatitis B and C, HIV, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Cytomegalovirus, Chlamydia, Neisseria, Dengue, etc, according to the release. 

Earlier in the day during his Mann Ki Baat address, PM Modi stated that as the country moved along the path to recovery, it was more necessary now than before to follow all precautions. He urged people to use masks, adopt a 6-feet distance, wash hands among other things. 

India's COVID tally has crossed the 13 lakh mark after the nation reported a single-day spike of 48,661 coronavirus cases and 705 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The total COVID-19 cases stand at 13,85,522, including 4,67,882 active cases, 8,85,577 cured/discharged/migrated, and 32,063 deaths. 

Read: Protest Against Israeli PM's Handling Of Coronavirus

Read: Mann Ki Baat: PM Modi Recounts Pakistan's Sinister 1999 Kargil War Plot; Names Neighbour

(with inputs from ANI)