Govt launches I-Lab for virus testing

Union Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan launched the country’s first mobile laboratory for coronavirus testing that can be deployed in rural areas to help promote last-mile testing access.

A mobile diagnostic unit

The mobile laboratory, also called I-Lab or Infectious Diseases Diagnostics Lab, can conduct 50 RT-PCR and about 200 ELISA tests in a day. A double set of machines can help increase the capacity to about 500 tests per day in an eight-hour shift, Vardhan said.

The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) under the ministry of science and technology, along with the Andhra Pradesh Med-tech Zone (AMTZ), has initiated the DBT-AMTZ COMManD (COVID-19 Medtech Manufacturing Development) consortia to address the shortage of critical healthcare technologies in the country and move progressively towards a stage of self-sufficiency.

AMTZ is Asia’s first medical equipment manufacturing ecosystem, uniquely dedicated to medical technology and supported by various ministries. The mobile testing laboratory is an outcome of this initiative. The I-Lab has been created in a record eight days by the AMTZ team with the support of the DBT.

This is a mobile diagnostic unit with a biosafety facility. It can be lifted and put on a goods train for sending to any location in the country. The BSL-2 Lab is as per the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) specifications and is being attached to DBT’s certified testing centres.

“This mobile testing facility will be deployed through the DBT testing hubs to remote regions of the country for coronavirus testing,” the minister said. 

“There are over 20 such hubs in the country now with 100 testing laboratories and these facilities have tested more than 2,60,000 samples for COVID-19 so far,” he said.

Vardhan said currently there are 953 testing laboratories in all corners of the country.

DBT secretary Renu Swarup said through the concerted efforts of Indian scientists, the country has achieved a capacity of producing over five lakh COVID-19 testing kits per day, exceeding the target of one lakh test kits by May 31.

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