The fight against coronavirus is still on Karnataka, and new tactics are needed in the authorities' arsenal. Now, Bengaluru's Indian Institute of Science has developed a mobile COVID-19 testing lab. The lab was inaugurated by K Sudhakar minister for medical education, Karnataka.
The lab has been approved by ICMR Delhi and will be useful if deployed in hotspots to conduct frequent tests.
The mobile COVID testing lab India has been waiting for
A lot of the innovation in India towards fighting COVID-19 has come from Bengaluru's organisations. These innovations are showing a huge deal of promise for India. The prestigious Indian Institute of Science has developed a mobile testing lab.
This RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction) lab was launched on Wednesday. It is also the only lab that has been approved by ICMR for use in India. The van has been given to the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Science for use.
The lab can be used to conduct tests in hotspots will deliver results in a matter of hours. The MITR (Mobile Infection Testing and Reporting) lab which can process 100 samples in a shift, 4,500 in a month, The Hindu reported. The advantage is the reduction in the time that it takes to deliver results in 4 to 12 hours. The lab can not only test for COVID-19 but for H1N1, HCB, TB, etc, as well.
Dr Sudhakar, Minister for Medical Education said about the lab on Twitter, "The Approved Mobile RT-PCR COVID Test Lab was launched today. The test report can be obtained in just 4 hours and has the capacity to perform about 400 tests a day."
It will have to be seen how these labs will be used by the government efficiently and if more batches of this van could be developed soon.
