PM Modi to launch 'high throughput COVID-19 testing' facilities in Kolkata, Mumbai, Noida on July 27

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch 'high throughput COVID-19 testing' facilities on July 27 via video conferencing, the PMO said on Sunday.

According to a release from the PMO, these facilities will ramp up testing capacity in the country and help in strengthening early detection and treatment, thus assisting in controlling the spread of the pandemic.

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, the release said.

"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," it added.

These labs will also reduce turn-around-time and exposure of lab personnel to infectious clinical materials, it stated while adding that 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.

India reported a spike of 48,661 coronavirus cases and 705 deaths in the last 24 hours, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday.The total COVID-19 positive cases stand at 13,85,522, including 4,67,882 active cases, 8,85,577 cured/discharged/migrated, and 32,063 deaths, it added.