With the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) approving two more testing centres at Ballari and Mangaluru in Karnataka, the demand for COVID-19 testing facilities in North Karnataka and Dakshina Kannada has now been fulfilled.

With this, the State has 10 government testing centres and this is the third highest in the country. While Maharashtra has 15 and Tamil Nadu has 11 centres, Karnataka and Kerala have 10 each.

While Kalaburagi got a testing facility last week, on Sunday ICMR approved testing centres at Vijaynagar Institute of Medical Sciences in Ballari and Wenlock District Hospital in Mangaluru. Testing will be done for free here.

Much awaited

This was a much awaited decision as the number of cases in Dakshina Kannada and North Karnataka have been on the rise in the last 10 days.

All put together, the number of cases in the districts of Kalaburagi, Belagavi, Ballari, Bagalkot, and Bidar have touched 30. While Dakshina Kannada has 12 positive cases, the third highest in the State, Ballari has six cases, including two of those who attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation.

The application for approval of another facility in Hubballi is pending with ICMR and sources said this is also likely to be approved soon.

The State’s order for one lakh rapid testing strips from China is likely to arrive on April 10. Following that, the State plans to take up random testing of those with influenza like illness. It is estimated that over 80,000 people can be tested using these strips in the next two weeks.