NEW DELHI: Amit Shah, Minister of Home Affairs, Government of India, on Monday, November 23, inaugurated a mobile COVID-19 RT-PCR lab. The inauguration took place at the office of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in New Delhi. Tests conducted in the mobile lab are free of cost and can produce results in six to eight hours. The mobile lab has been jointly launched by SpiceHealth and the ICMR.
According to a statement by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the recently inaugurated mobile lab, along with others which will be launched later, will help in adding to the COVID testing capacity of the country. The RT-PCR tests being conducted in the lab will cost Rs 499 and this cost will be borne by the ICMR. The statement further read that this move will help in making COVID-19 tests more accessible and affordable for the people of Delhi.
The test report would be available within 6 to 8 hours from the time of sample collection compared to the average 24 to 48 hours taken by similar test reports, an MHA official said.