The COVID-19 testing centre, which was recently set up on the Tiruppur Government Hospital premises, is still awaiting approval from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
Tiruppur GH Dean Valli Sathyamoorthy said on Wednesday that the approval process has been initiated and that it is expected to be finalised by next week.
Once approved, all the swab samples collected in Tiruppur district could be tested here as the samples are being sent to the testing centre at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital, she said.
“We can test between 70 to 100 samples a day,” Dr. Sathyamoorthy said. The centre has been set up as per the protocols laid down by ICMR and has four technicians and one microbiologist, according to the Dean.
On Tuesday, District Collector K. Vijayakarthikeyan visited the testing centre.
Seven green blocks
With only two active COVID-19 cases in the district, seven out of 13 blocks have been declared as green zones as of Wednesday. Mr. Vijayakarthikeyan tweeted the zone-wise map of the district, according to which Udumalpet, Gudimangalam, Madathukulam, Kundadam, Vellakoil, Mulanur and Uthukuli blocks were green zones.
Dharapuram, Avinashi, Palladam, Pongalur and Kangeyam blocks were orange zones while Tiruppur block was red zone. Among these, Tiruppur Corporation and Udumalpet Municipality were also red zones.
Green zones are where no COVID-19 cases have been reported for the past 28 days.
Orange zones are where cases were reported between 14 and 28 days and red zones are those where cases were confirmed within the past 14 days, according to the map.