Covid-19 outbreak: Samples from Indians in Iran sent to NIV

A six-member team of scientists and engineers had earlier lifted laboratory equipment to Tehran to set up a field lab to screen Indian nationals. Over the weekend, more than 108 samples were tested at AIIMS, New Delhi.

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On Monday, ICMR officials said that some of the samples will be sent to NIV for reconfirmation of the results.

Amid the Covid-19 outbreak, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) headquarters will send some of the 108 samples collected from Indian nationals stranded in Iran to the National Institute of Virology, Pune. Iran is one of the countries worst-hit by Covid-19, with over 7,000 people infected and over 230 dead.

A six-member team of scientists and engineers had earlier lifted laboratory equipment to Tehran to set up a field lab to screen Indian nationals. Over the weekend, more than 108 samples were tested at AIIMS, New Delhi.

On Monday, ICMR officials said that some of the samples will be sent to NIV for reconfirmation of the results. “We are not sending the entire lot of samples to NIV but some of them for another round of tests,” said Dr R R Gangakhedkar, head, Epidemiology and Communicable Diseases division at ICMR.

As on 4 pm on Monday, a total of 5,255 samples from 4,601 individuals have been tested by ICMR’s Virus Diagnostic and Research Labs.

According to Dr Gangakhedkar, the institute currently has enough reagents to test 57,000 samples, and this number will go up to 90,000 by March 12. Scientists say each sample takes about 4.5 hours to test.

ICMR director general Dr Balram Bhargava said “Multiple teams are visiting commissioned labs across India to help them troubleshoot and meet quality requirements for testing.”

The Department of Health Research and the ICMR have commissioned a total of 52 laboratories for coronavirus testing in India. Each lab has at least two scientists who are connected with the team at NIV, and all these laboratories have an operational real time PCR platform.

Anuradha Mascarenhas

Anuradha Mascarenhas is a journalist with The Indian Express and is based in Pune. A senior editor, Anuradha writes on health, research developments in the field of science and environment and takes keen interest in covering women's issues. With a career spanning over 25 years, Anuradha has also led teams and often coordinated the edition. ... Read More

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