The Kerala government on Thursday slashed the price of RT-PCR tests to ₹500 from ₹1,700 at all private laboratories in the state.
Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja informed about the new RT-PCR rates to ANI news agency, "Price of RT-PCR test at private labs in the state reduced to ₹500 from ₹1700".
The new RT-PCR test rates are inclusive of swab charges, PPE kits, and test kits. The state's health minister said the decision has come close on the heels of the latest price reduction of the ICMR-approved kits.
Earlier, the Kerala government had slashed the price of RT-PCR test from ₹2,000 to ₹1,500 on January 1. However, it later revised to ₹1,700.
The price of RT-PCR was ₹2,750 last year in October.
Kerala's Covid-19 caseload crossed the 15 lakh mark on Thursday as 38,607 people tested positive in 24 hours.
The total caseload soared to 15,33,984 as of April 29.
The toll mounted to 5,259 with 48 more deaths, and the active cases touched 2,84,086.
As many as 21,116 people have been cured of the infection, taking the total recoveries to 12,44,301.
In the last 24 hours, 1,57,548 samples were tested and the Test Positivity Rate (TPR) was 24.5 per cent.
Presently, 5,93,840 people are under observation, including 24,009 in hospitals. Ernakulam district, which reported the highest number of Covid cases--5,369-- today, has 47,921 people undergoing treatment for the infection.Kozhikode recorded 4,990 cases while 40,245 people are under treatment.
