Tackling Covid-19: 13 more labs open in UP, Yogi govt pushes for more testing
UP now has a total of 211 labs of which 63, including 34 in government sector, are undertaking RT-PCR tests. The remaining 148 (105 govt labs) are conducing Tru-nat tests.
New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh is the already the leading state in the country, with nearly 1.5 Covid-19 testing being conducted in a day. However, Yogi govt is still pushing for more sample testing to keep the virus menace in control.
In a boost to coronavirus testing, the state got 13 new BSL-2 standards which started functioning in various districts.
Inaugurating the 13 “bio-safety level-2” laboratories, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that “wide-scale testing and timely treatment of symptomatic patients are the only way to avoid Covid deaths”.
The Chief Minister said that the state is now facing a bigger challenge of Asymptomatic Covid patients and it can only be dealt with more intense contact tracing and testing.
UP conducting nearly 1.5 Covid-19 testing daily
With this, the state’s capacity of undertaking RT-PCR tests will go up by 5,000 per day. The state is already conducting an average of 1.5 lakh Covid-19 tests per day of which about 50% are RT-PCR. State has conducted more than 50 lakh tests till date.
The Chief Minister said, till we develop any vaccine or medical for Covid-19, testing is the only weapon to fight against this pandemic. Every person engaged in testing is a true corona warrior. It is because of testing that we have been able to keep Covid-19 positivity and death rates under control.
The new labs include 10 in the public sector and the remaining three at private medical colleges. Government labs have come up in Basti, Ayodhya, Azamgarh, Banda, Saharanpur, Ambedkarnagar, Badaun, Bahraich, Jalaun and Firozabad while private labs have been set up at Teerthankar Mahaveer Medical College Moradabad, GS Medical College Hapur and Mayo Institute of Medical Sciences in Barabanki district.
CM Yogi said that these laboratories would not only assist in Covid-19 testing but would also help in identification and fight against many vector-borne diseases like chikungunya, kala-azar and encephalitis.
UP now has a total of 211 labs of which 63, including 34 in government sector, are undertaking RT-PCR tests. The remaining 148 (105 govt labs) are conducing Tru-nat tests.