PANAJI: In a bid to reduce reliance on laboratories outside the state, the government is exploring the possibility of setting up an internal facility to test for the new Covid-19 strain detected in UK
“The joint purchase committee has been asked to conduct a meeting to find out if a testing facility for the new strain could be set-up here, so that we don’t need to send samples outside the state,” health minister Vishwajit
Rane told reporters after a meeting of the expert committee on Saturday.
Stating that prior experience has taught them that reliance on laboratories outside Goa could lead to delays in receiving results, he said, “We need to be self-sufficient.”
Presently, Goa sends samples to the
National Institute of Virology (
NIV), Pune, for genomic study. So far, test results of 12 people who have returned from the UK have come back negative for the new
Covid strain, while some results are awaited, Rane said.
He said that out of the 976 UK returnees who landed in Goa this month, and were subjected to an RT-PCR test, 38 tested positive.
All 38 of them, as well as 28 people they came in contact with, have been placed in quarantine at the ESI-Margao hospital.
They will be kept there for 17 days till they complete the stipulated quarantine period.