The much-awaited Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RTPCR) laboratory will start testing of swab samples for novel coronavirus at the Mandya Institute of Medical Sciences (MIMS) here from Friday.
The State government had approached the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for establishing the COVID-19 testing centre at MIMS recently.
The ICMR has approved the proposal and subsequently a team of MIMS has undergone training at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) recently, sources in the Department of Health and Family Welfare said.
The team has successfully completed the trial run [by testing the samples which were already tested at other labs] and the amplification plots that are tested during the trial run are perfect, the Department of Neurovirology, NIMHANS, has said.
The team members have passed the COVID-19 proficiency test administered by the NIMHANS with five coded samples [two positive and three negative samples].
The reports of all the five coded samples were accurate and cross-checked. Thus, the RTPCR laboratory will operate from Friday, Mandya District Health Officer H.P. Manche Gowda said. “The lab has RNA separator, biosafety requirements and other infrastructure facilities.”
200 samples
The capacity of the laboratory is around 200 samples a day. It would also test samples for Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) and Influenza-Like Illness (ILI), said another health officer.
The first COVID-19 positive case was reported on April 7 in the district. Till Thursday, as many as 4,625 samples have been collected across the district. Of them, 4,126 have tested negative. A total of 28 persons had tested positive for the disease and out of them, 11 have been discharged upon recovery.
Whilst 17 patients are being treated at MIMS, 3,534 persons have been placed under quarantine across the district.
