Testing facilities

COVID-19 testing facilities have gone up in the State in recent times and with non-COVID care picking up, the private health sector has found it necessary to invest in testing to rule out cross-infections.

In the private sector, only laboratory facilities accredited to the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) are being given approval by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to do COVID-19 testing. According to the ICMR, the number of laboratories which have initiated independent testing in Kerala and are reporting to ICMR is 34. They include all RT-PCR, TrueNat and CB-NAAT testing sites in the State in both government and private sector. There are 15 RT-PCR testing sites in the government sector and six in the private sector. TrueNat Beta CoV testing is available in six government facilities. As for CB-NAAT, while there is only one government facility, there are six facilities in the private sector.