As the number of COVID-19 cases rises in India, the central government has permitted private laboratories to test for the disease. The said decision has been taken to increase the overall capacity of diagnostic centers for timely diagnosis and to reduce the burden on government-run labs. The following guidelines are framed by the govt. for private labs: Only NABL-accredited private laboratories can test COVID-19 samples using the USFDA approved Covid-19 diagnostic kits. As per the National Task Force’s recommendation , the testing charges would be Rs. 4500 (Rs.
1500/- for a screening test and Rs. 3000/- for confirmation test) and any Pvt. lab shall not take extra charges for the same. The USFDA prescribed biosafety and biosecurity precautions should be adopted while collecting and testing respiratory samples. As a precautionary measure to avoid community transmission, labs may collect…
