Amid Surging New Cases, Amit Shah Launches Mobile RT-PCR Lab For Free COVID-19 Testing In Delhi

In a boost to the national capital's capabilities and capacity to contain the alarming situation of surging new COVID-19 cases, Union Minister for Home Affairs Amit Shah yesterday (23 November) inaugurated a mobile RT-PCR laboratory developed by SpiceHealth and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) jointly, reports Livemint.

Another noted feature of the mobile laboratory would be that it would be conducting tests for no charge to the people, with ICMR bearing a cost of Rs 499 per test. Furthermore, it would be able to provide the test results within six to eight hours of time, unlike the usual of 24 to 48 hours.

Private sector company Spicehealth has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ICMR to set up such facilities across the nation. In the first leg, the company is aiming to launch 10 such mobile laboratories in different cities, each of which will be collecting up to 1,000 samples per day. The same shall then be increased t0 3,000 samples per day, per laboratory.

The launch of mobile RT-PCR testing laboratory comes at a time when the national capital has been struck with a wave of record-high daily cases, with surging positivity rate prompting the authorities to boost RT-PCR testing capacity.