NEW DELHI: The Centre on Monday said that India’s Covid testing capacity is being projected to be raised to 45 lakh per day from the current 25 lakh in the wake of the pandemic now engulfing rural and peri-urban areas of the country.

Of the 25 lakh testing capacity in the country at present, 13 lakh tests are RT-PCR tests and the rest are rapid antigen tests. In India, the actual daily tests to detect fresh coronavirus cases, however, has not even touched the 20 lakh mark.

In a ministers' meeting on Covid, chaired by Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, it was highlighted that 17 more laboratories will be added to the existing network of 10 labs under INSACOG, a consortium for genomic and epidemiological surveillance of Covid in India.

Balram Bhargava, Decretary (Health Research) & Director General, ICMR, assured of innovative changes in testing policy that would widen its scope of application and help in mass screening for Covid particularly in peri-urban and rural settings where health infrastructure is relatively weak.

“Deployment of mobile RT-PCR testing vans and amplification of RAT tests was presented as the way forward,” said the Union Health Ministry in a statement following the meeting.

The projected capacity of Covid testing in India is 18 lakh daily RT-PCR tests and 27 lakh rapid antigen tests.

S Aparna, pharma secretary, said that a dedicated cell has been created to coordinate production and allocation of drugs in demand to treat Covid patients. Manufacturers have also been advised to increase production of drugs.

The three-pronged strategy undertaken to ensure better availability of Covid drugs include identification of new suppliers and addressing operative issues faced by suppliers exploring all the possible ways to meet the demand, rational distribution of drugs to states to avoid hoarding and enforcement against hoarding and black-marketing.

As per the details shared, remdesivir production has more than tripled in the country with government intervention from around 39 lakh to 118 lakh vials per month. 

Demand for Amphotericin-B which is used for treatment of mucormycosis, being seen in Covid1 patients post recovery, has also increased, said authorities and five suppliers have been identified and efforts are being made for optimal allocation of the drug.

Between May 1 and 14, states have been given 1 lakh vial of this drug and avenues for import are being actively explored, according to the Centre.