Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate three new high-throughput labs of the Indian Council of Medical Research on Monday through video conferencing. The three new high-throughput ICMR labs have been constructed in Mumbai, Noida and Kolkata. The labs will majorly boost the nation’s COVID-19 testing capacities.
The Union Government has adopted the test-track-treat strategy for early detection and containment of the COVID-19 pandemic. Under this, the ICMR has ramped up its testing capabilities to effectively deal with Coronavirus crisis.
“We have already asked the state governments and union territories to ramp up testing capacities. Adding more labs and enhancing the capacity of the approved labs will increase the COVID-19 testing capacities in the country,” said an official from the Union Health Ministry.
These new testing labs will be capable of testing over 10,000 samples in a day and also reduce turn-around-time. The inauguration is expected to be followed by a review meeting on the current situation of Covid-19 in the state.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Uttar Pradesh Chief Ministers Yogi Adityanath and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee are expected to take part in the virtual inaugural event.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Health Minister HarshVardhan and senior officials are also expected to be part of the expected review meeting. The meeting comes at a time when India has seen a massive surge in everyday cases. The country crossed the 13 lakh mark on Sunday. India has recorded 48,661 cases of coronavirus as the total COVID-19 tally soared to 13,85,522 on Sunday.