The government has set up a machine to carry out preliminary diagnosis for people showing symptoms of novel coronavirus disease at Government General Hospital(GGH) in the city on Sunday. District Collector A. Md. Imtiaz visited the facility and reviewed the arrangements made by the health department officials.
Preliminary confirmation of coronavirus infection could be made using the Real-Time Pulmonary Reaction (RTPR) machine.
Mr. Imitaz said that so far six samples of symptomatic persons, five from East Godavari and one from West Godavari, have been tested and forwarded to National Institute of Virology(NIV) in Pune for final confirmation. Their results are awaited.
To know the accuracy of the RTPR machine results, at least 10 samples should be tested and the result should match the one sent by NIV, he said. Depending on the output, NIV will certify the machine to confirm the results of tests of samples of people.
District Medical and Health Officer Dr. T.S.R. Murthy, GGH superintendent Dr. Nancharayanna, Prof. Lakshmi Kumar and others were present.