ICMR approves 176 government and 78 private laboratories across India to test COVID-19; check list here

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Wednesday released the complete list of 176 government and 78 private laboratories to test potential coronavirus disease (COVID-19)-affected patient samples. Notably, the virus has affected more than 12,000 people in India and claimed at least 400 lives in the country, while it continues to spread like wildfire globally.

The official website of the council provides an idea about the government and private testing facilities for coronavirus available in the country. These testing facilities are spread across the length and breadth of the country.

The list of government laboratories, issued by ICMR, lists eight labs in Delhi -- including All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Lady Hardinge Medical College, National Centre for Disease Control, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Institute of Liver & Biliary Sciences, Army Hospital Research & Referral, Maulana Azad Medical College, Vardhman Mahavir Medical College, and Safdarjung Hospital.

The ICMR list includes 17 government labs in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, 15 in Uttar Pradesh, 12 in Karnataka, 10 in Kerala, nine in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, eight in Rajasthan, seven in Andhra Pradesh, five in Assam and Bihar among others.

The private laboratories include nine in Delhi including Lal Path Labs, Rohini, Dr. Dangs Lab, Safdarjung Development Area, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, Sarita Vihar, Max Super Speciality Hospital, Saket, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Oncquest Labs, Prognosis Laboratories, City X-Ray & Scan Clinic, and Lifeline Laboratory.

Haryana has six such labs all in Gurgaon including Strand Life Sciences, SRL Limited, Modern Diagnostic & Research Centre, ACore Diagnostics, MolQ Laboratory, and Pathkind Diagnostics.

Maharashtra has 17 such laboratories, Telangana has 12 such labs, Tamil Nadu at 10, West Bengal at six, Uttar Pradesh has two, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh have only one each.

A complete list of the government and private laboratories are listed here, along with an interactive map to find the nearest facility.

The council has already stated that hospitals admitting suspect cases of COVID-19 should collect nasal and throat swab samples in one VTM tube and transport them to the nearest testing laboratory in the cold chain.

It has also been said that the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune functions as the resource center for the Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratories (VRDL) network in India and that the institute is responsible for providing technical training for performing molecular and serological assays for virological diagnosis. The institute would also perform the important task of standardizing assay procedures for the network as well as quality control and quality assurance activities.

Earlier yesterday, the ICMR said that a total of 2,74,599 samples had been tested for coronavirus (till 9 PM on Wednesday, that is), adding that those samples were taken from 2,58,730 individuals.

According to ICMR, the number of samples is higher as many suspected patients are tested more than once. "At least 11,297 individuals have been confirmed positive among suspected cases and contacts of known positive cases in India," it said in a statement.

As the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis exacerbates in India, the central government on Wednesday earmarked 170 districts as hotspots in the 'Red Zone' with the aim to adopt stricter lockdown measures in these regions for checking the pandemic outbreak in its tracks. The Red Zone hotspots are essentially the regions that have reported a significant number of positive cases, contributing more than 80% of cases in India with a doubling rate of less than four days.

Meanwhile, 207 non-hotspot districts ith clusters and non-infected districts have also been classified as 'Green Zone'.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has also stated that there is no community transmission of India so far, adding that the chain of transmission of coronavirus can be broken successfully if no case is reported for 28 days from a particular area.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Tuesday morning announced the extension of the countrywide lockdown till May 3.