The Indian Council of Medical Research has approved the use of the virology laboratory in the ICMR National Institute of Traditional Medicine in Belagavi as a COVID-19 testing laboratory. Officers say testing of throat swab samples could begin in 2-3 days.
ICMR included the ICMR -NITM-Belgaum among the approved laboratories on its website on Thursday.
NITM has a fully equipped laboratory to conduct the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests to determine the presence of SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19.
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The institute is headed by Debaprasad Chattopadhyaya who is an expert on virus and other pathogens. He is supported by a team of scientists and assistants trained in RTPCR and other tests.
“However we will need some time to start receiving samples as we have to mobilise reagents and calibrate some systems as per the ICMR protocol,” an officer said.
Regional Commissioner Amlan Aditya Biswas had sent a proposal to the Central government to permit ICMR-NITM as a COVID-19 testing laboratory a few days ago.
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