Covid-19: 8 new testing facilities planned; 3 to start today

The Maharashtra government is set to increase testing facilities for the Covid-19 virus at eight new locations across the state. Of them, testing facility at three

The Maharashtra government is set to increase testing facilities for the Covid-19 virus at eight new locations across the state. Of them, testing facility at three places — KEM Hospital, Kasturba Hospital and BJ Medical College (Pune) will start from Thursday, while the remaining five will start in the coming eight days, said state public health minister Rajesh Tope, on Wednesday.

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Kasturba Hospital already has one such facility in place.

Tope said that the Central government has allowed coronavirus testing by private laboratories from Wednesday. “We have been trying to increase our testing facility strength and hence, I met officials from the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune. We are now starting testing facilities at three places [today] and the same will be started at five other places — JJ Hospital and Haffkine Institute in the city, Aurangabad, Dhule, and Solapur —in the next eight to 10 days,” Tope said in Pune.

The health minister stressed that the government would not bear the expenses for testing at private facilities. “No one can simply go to a testing facility and ask for the test as there is a protocol that needs to be followed. Only those who have symptoms or have travel history can be tested,” he said.

Tope said that it will be mandatory for private hospitals to treat patients affected with coronavirus. The local administration has been empowered to take a decision in such cases. They can ask any private hospital with an isolation ward to provide beds to deal with the pandemic.

The laboratory at KEM Hospital will start from Thursday and will have the capacity to carry out 150 tests per day.

Additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani told Hindustan Times on Tuesday, “As per procedure, the first test was conducted at KEM lab on Wednesday as part of a trial run. After NIV’s approval of the results, the lab will become fully functional.”

A senior official from the health department clarified that people must not flock to KEM Hospital for tests, as this is not a collection centre for samples. Samples to KEM’s laboratory will be sent only by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) after they have been collected from Kasturba Hospital.

On Wednesday, the state government also decided to grant ₹45 crore to each divisional commissioner to deal with the coronavirus outbreak. The state government has also decided to take strict action against all those found hoarding essential commodities. State food and civil supplies minister Chhagan Bhujbal said that those found hoarding or black marketing essential commodities, including sanitisers and masks, will face strict action.

68-year-old woman tests positive

A 68-year-old woman tested positive to coronavirus in Mumbai on Wednesday, taking the total number of cases in the city to eight, said the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

Daksha Shah, deputy director of BMC, said the woman who tested positive on Wednesday is a “close contact” of a man who was found positive on Monday after returning from the US recently. Both individuals were admitted to Kasturba Hospital and are undergoing treatment.

After the death of 64-year-old Covid-19 positive patient on Tuesday, the civic administration has swung into action and initiated talks with private hospitals to make isolation wards available. The civic body said it is in talks with three hospitals for isolation facilities having two to 20 beds.

BMC has already started quarantine facilities at Seven Hills Hospital and Mirage Hotel in Andheri.

(With inputs from Shrinivas Deshpande)