Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Friday informed that the state has tested 51,000 samples for the coronavirus or COVID-19 till now. Of the 51,000 samples, over 24,000 have been tested for the coronavirus in Mumbai alone.
Rajesh Tope further informed that Maharashtra has 30 COVID-19 testing labs while 15 labs are government-run and 15 are private labs. Six more COVID-19 testing labs will be added in the list of government-run labs.
“We are increasing our capacity of labs so that the time-lapse between sample collection and test result can be minimised and better treatment is given t the infected patients as soon as possible,” Maharashtra Public Health Minister Rajesh Tope was quoted in media reports as saying.
Tope further informed that Maharashtra government was seeking permission from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for pool and rapid testing for the coronavirus. The state government has also sought permission from the centre to use the plasma of recovered patients to treat infected people.
Earlier, Rajesh Tope had informed that the doubling rate in Maharashtra has slowed down. The minister said that the doubling rate for coronavirus cases has slowed down to nearly six days from two days.
“The rate when COVID-19 cases double from its earlier figure is known as the doubling rate. It was earlier two days which slowed down to three and a half days and now it is five and a half days,” the minister informed.
The Union Health Ministry informed that the total number of COVID-19 cases in India has risen to 13,287 while Maharashtra remains the worst-hit state in India due to the coronavirus outbreak and has already crossed the 3,000-mark with over 3,200 COVID-19 cases.
Of the 3,200 cases in Maharashtra, over 2,000 cases have been reported in Mumbai. The death toll in the state is nearing 200-mark with 194 deaths reported till now.
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