Coronavirus testing: List of govt labs, approved private labs

As coronavirus outbreak intensifies across the globe as well as in India, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has approved private labs for Covid-19 testing.

As on Sunday,the total coronavirus cases in the country has risen to 979, according to the latest figures released from Union Health Ministry.

"Till now there have been 979 Covid-19 confirmed cases in the country, including 25 deaths. In the last 24 hours, 106 new positive cases and 6 deaths from 6 states have been reported," said Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Union Health Ministry.

According to a statement from Indian Council of Medical Research -- the apex body in India for the formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research as on 27 March the total number of government laboratories approved stand at 122 out of which 113 labs are already operational while the remaining 9 are in the process .

Till today we have conducted 34,931 tests. Capacity utilization in the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) network is around 30%. We have increased some labs, 113 have been made functional & 47 private labs have been given approval,said R Ganga Ketkar of ICMR.

The ICMR has also allowed 47 private labs to conduct Covid-19 tests accross the country. ICMR has allowed nine private labs in Maharashtra to conduct the test followed by eight in Delhi, seven in Telangana,four each in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat and two each in Kerala and West Bengal.

The World Health Organisation has stressed upon testing during the novel coronavirus outbreak across the world. The Indian government claims raising the capacity of testing for COVID-19 on a regular basis.

Joint Secretary, Health, LavAgarwal said the private labs will have to follow ICMR norms while testing for COVID-19. However, people who need to be tested have to fit in the criteria prescribed by the ICMR. According to the ICMR, the criteria includes symptoms that include fever, sore throat, runny nose, dyspnea, etc or individuals returned from affected countries like China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Iran, Italy, close contact with confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 infection, all individuals evacuated and quarantined from Wuhan, China and Diamond Princess ship, Japan and other coronavirus affected countries.