Govt aiming at 1.5 lakh tests per day: Minister
BENGALURU:
The state government has decided to set up Covid-19 testing labs on the PPP (Public-Private Partnership) model and the tender process will be completed by the end of this week, said Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar.
He was speaking after inaugurating the new Covid testing lab by Eurofins Clinical Genetics India (ECGI) in Whitefield on Friday. The new lab is expected to conduct up to 5,000 tests per day.
The mInister said that following the directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, measures are being taken to increase Covid-19 testing three-fold. Another tender will be floated by the Health and Medical Education departments for setting up RT-PCR machines within two weeks. Sudhakar pointed out that said that 144 labs had been set up in matter of six months.
Despite the awareness drive by the government, positive cases are increasing due to the casual approach of citizens. Hence, the government has hiked the penalty to Rs 1,000 for people not wearing masks in public places, Sudhakar said.
He said that though positive cases are climbing in the state, the death rate is under control at 1.52%. The state has achieved a milestone of conducting 50 lakh Covid19 tests, and aims to increase the daily testing to 1.5 lakh per day, the minister said.
