The state now has 26 labs and a testing capacity of 5,000 samples per day. District hospitals at Gadag, Vijayapura and Tumakuru received approval from the Centre on Friday for CBNAAT Covid-19 laboratories.
CBNAAT or Cartridge-based Nucleic Acid Amplification Test is used for detecting Tuberculosis, which will now be used for detecting Covid-19 as well with additional cartridges.
This increase is significant considering that the state had just two labs in the beginning of February with a capacity of testing a few hundreds.
Of the 26 labs, 15 RTPCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) labs, three CBNAAT and eight private labs are functioning in the state.
Karnataka Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar said, “The number of labs will go up by another 30 reaching 60 by the end of the month.” This will further enhance and nearly double the testing capacity.