Goa to purchase new Rs 1.5 crore Covid-19 testing machine

PANAJI: In a bid to ramp up the state’s testing capacity, the health department will purchase a Covid-19 testing machine worth Rs 1.5 crore.
The proposal was approved by the cabinet on Thursday, a health official said. The new machine can generate results in five minutes, and will ensure an additional 500 tests a day.
In addition to testing at the virology laboratory of Goa Medical College (GMC) and hospital, TrueNat testing facilities have been installed at two district hospitals and three sub-district hospitals.
Though TrueNat tests deliver faster results, confirmatory tests are required to be carried out in the event a sample tests positive for Covid-19, the official said.
The real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests conducted at the GMC virology laboratory are time-consuming and takes four to five hours to generate results, the official said.
On an average, over 400 TrueNat and RT-PCR tests are conducted every day.
“Testing done in GMC’s virology laboratory is not automatic. Everything has to be done manually, and hence results can’t be known instantly,” he said.
As for the fresh seven cases detected on Thursday, the official said all of them had tested positive via TrueNat, but their confirmatory test results were known hours later.
Since May 1, the number of people entering the state have risen, thus requiring more tests.
“If results are known faster, it will reduce the necessity to keep persons in facility quarantine for longer hours. Dealing with fewer people will lessen the risk of transmission,” he said.
Persons arriving from outside Goa are placed in facility quarantine until their results are declared. They are placed in home quarantine if they test negative for Covid-19. Those with travel history to a foreign country need to be placed in facility quarantine for 14 days.
As of Thursday, 6,200 tests have been conducted in the state.