Collecting throat swabs and testing them for SARS COV-2 infection has begun at the Dharwad Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (DIMHANS) in Dharwad.
After Hubballi and Belagavi, Dharwad has become the third testing centre in the North Karnataka region.
On Friday, Minister for Large and Medium Industries and district-in-charge Jagadish Shettar formally inaugurated the facility and said that throat swabs from the districts of Haveri, Gadag and Koppal would be tested in Dharwad.
According to authorities, manual testing is being done at DIMHANS and the institute is likely to receive RNA Extract Device in another week’s time. The DIMHANS staff have been trained at Bengaluru for carrying out the tests. After the arrival of RNA Extract device, it will speed up testing as 200 samples can be tested a day, the authorities said.