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The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has shared that its laboratories at Hisar, Bhopal, Bengaluru, and Bareilly are efficient enough to manage the tests for coronavirus, if the government is looking for an expansion in the scope of testing for the deadly virus. ICAR director general (DG) Trilochan Mohapatra noted that he had given a proposal the Union ministry of health and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
“If the government wants, then all four of our labs are capable of doing 520 tests per day. This capacity can also be developed in other labs as demand increases,” he asserted.
The DG observed that among the labs where this test can be done instantly comprise the National Research Centre on Equine (NRCE), Hisar; National Institute of High-Security Animal Disease (NISHAD), Bhopal; National Institute of Veterinary Epidemiology and Disease Informatics (NIVEDI), Bengaluru and Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Bareilly.
Mohapatra further shared that Bhopal-based Nishad had produced a Covid-19 test kit. He said such tests were done in the ICAR labs and the kit was ready. “Coronavirus testing has only two different components, which, combined with the old kit, make the test kit for the coronavirus almost ready on-demand,” he added.
ICAR deputy director (animal husbandry) BN Tripathi shared, “There are many institutes of the ICAR that are capable of conducting tests for Covid-19 samples.”
