ICMR to Get 7 Lakh Rapid Antibody Testing Kits For Conducting COVID-19 Tests in Coronavirus Hotspot Areas of India

New Delhi, April 6:As the coronavirus cases continue to rise in the country, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) will get about 7 lakh rapid antibody testing kits by April 8. According to an ANI tweet, these kits will help in conducting COVID-19 tests in hotspot areas, where there has been a huge spike in cases. ICMR further informed that they will get the delivery of the testing kits in a phased manner. The order has been placed and it is expected that the body will get around 5 lakhs kits in the first phase.

The Indian government had confirmed that they have ordered 10 lakh personal protective equipment (PPE) kits through External Affairs Ministry on a Singapore based platform and supplies will commence soon. The Health Ministry also stated that 10,000 PPE overalls donated by Red Cross have been received and were being distributed on March 30 to combat COVID 19. India Requires 27 Million N95 Masks, 15 Million PPEs, 1.6 Million Diagnostic Kits, And 50,000 Ventilators in Next 2-3 Months to Combat COVID-19: Report.

Check ANI tweet:

Towards the last week of March, the government allowed private laboratories to test suspected cases of coronavirus only if they have COVID-19 testing kits approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA). A slew of guidelines was issued by ICMR for private labs conducting coronavirus tests.

The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Monday informed that the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in India has increased to 4067. Of these, 3666 are active cases while 291 individuals have been cured and discharged from the hospitals. The death toll has mounted to 109 while one person has migrated to another country,

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 06, 2020 10:46 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).