Health Minister Harsh Vardhan |
On Tuesday, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said that adequate coronavirus test kits have been procured and disseminated across the states for any further eventualities.
The Union Health Minister yesterday held the review meeting with senior officials of the ICMR, Department of Science and Technology, Bio-technology and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
Harsh Vardhan reviewed the COVID-19 sampling and testing strategy and said all efforts should be made to procure testing kits immediately for supply to laboratories. The minister directed officials to ensure states have all the required facilities and do not face shortage of testing kits, reagents or equipment.
He also directed officials that there should be no comprise in the quality of testing kits procured by the government or private labs. He further said that quality assessment of the kits will be done regularly. The Union Health Minister also said that for this a clear quality control mechanism and protocol needs to be developed and implemented by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) immediately.
On Tuesday, the number of novel coronavirus cases climbed to 1,397 after 146 new infections were reported in the past 24 hours across India. The death toll due to the pandemic rose to 35, according to the Union Health Ministry. The active cases of COVID-19 (coronavirus disease) stands at 1,238, while three deaths -- two in Punjab and one in Maharashtra -- were reported, the ministry said in an updated data on Tuesday night.
(Inputs from Agencies)
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