india

Updated: Mar 18, 2020 17:14 IST

India opened the gates for private testing for coronavirus infections on Tuesday and announced that it had initiated talks with 51 accredited private laboratories, taking the first step in widening the diagnosis protocol that experts say is crucial to fight the deadly epidemic that has claimed at least 7,000 lives worldwide.

In a press conference, director general of the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) Balram Bhargava said 72 government laboratories were currently testing for the coronavirus disease, or Covid-19, which claimed its third life in India on Tuesday. Another 49 government facilities will be operational soon, he added.

“We are in the process of engaging private NABL [National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories] accredited laboratories for carrying out testing of Covid-19 cases,” he said. “We appeal to all private laboratories to offer Covid-19 diagnosis free of cost,” he added.

India’s current strategy is to test only symptomatic people with a history of travel to global hot spots or those with close contact with a positive case, with those showing symptoms getting priority. Testing is only done at government facilities.

But this has led to widespread panic with many worried about symptoms. Designated government hospitals continue to turn away many people without symptoms who travelled from affected countries and wanted to get tested even though symptoms may take up to 14 days to appear.

Globally, nations such as South Korea have been successful in using aggressive testing regimens to control the spread of the virus while others such as the United States and Japan have been criticised for its sluggish pace of testing.