Karnataka plans to increase daily COVID-19 testing from 65,000 to one lakh (AFP)

Bengaluru:

The Karnataka government has reduced the cost of RT- PCR tests for COVID-19 – considered the most reliable test to detect coronavirus – saying the cost of reagents for the test has come down.

Samples sent by the government to private labs for testing will now cost a maximum of Rs 1,200, while private samples will cost Rs 1,600.

In July, the cost for samples sent by the government was Rs 2,000 and those sent by private labs was Rs 3,000. They were brought down in August to Rs 1,500 and Rs 2,500, respectively.

In a meeting on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had told seven states with high COVID-19 cases, including Karnataka, to increase RT-PCR tests.

Karnataka plans to increase daily COVID-19 testing from 65,000 to one lakh, Health Commissioner Pankaj Pandey told NDTV. The one lakh tests will include 60,000 RT-PCR and 40,000 Rapid Antigen Test or RAT.

He said the approximate cost for one lakh tests would be around Rs 5 crore daily, adding the state has enough labs and support to do this.

Bengaluru will increase testing from 25,000 a day – of which 75 per cent was RT-PCR – to 38,000 a day, out of which 32,000 would be RT-PCR tests.

Special officer at the municipal agency BBMP’s COVID-19 war room told NDTV the increase in number of RT-PCR tests would be done in phases as the capacity for it was built up.