With phase-wise relaxation of lockdown restrictions in Maharashtra, all efforts are being made to contain the spread of coronavirus and get life back to normalcy. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is launching ‘Mission Universal Testing’ in Mumbai under which one lakh antigen testing kits will be made available. These kits would be available at all civic-run hospitals, government hospitals, COVID care centers, etc. This kit is said to provide results within thirty minutes.

As per the instructions issued by the State Government, antigen testing would be permissible only through the ICMR approved SD Biosensor company kits. It may be mentioned that as compared to the presently available RT-PCR testing, this antigen testing kit would help in identifying infection in high-risk groups with severe comorbidity in just 15-30 minutes so that timely medical treatment can be given to them. Besides, testing suspicious patients, this kit will help in testing patients in the list of contact tracing and hence immediately providing medical aid.

The BMC has requested 35 big private hospitals to buy these government-approved kits for testing. The corporate houses and private offices too can buy these newly available rapid testing kits to test their employees for the infection.

The BMC has also stated that those above 70 years of age can get themselves tested without a preion. As part of the Universal Testing Mission, BMC will also allow COVID-19 tests by labs on the basis of e-preions.

Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh government has started antigen tests for early identification of suspected COVID patients in the state. Today the antigen tests started in 5 cities of the state, random sampling of different sections of society is also underway.

In the first phase, Antigen tests started in five cities Lucknow, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, and Kanpur. Later it will be introduced in the districts of the Meerut division of the state which is witnessing a continuous increase in the number of patients. These tests will provide early and more accurate results.

Currently, there are 6189 active cases in all 75 districts of the state while 12116 COVID patients have been discharged from different hospitals in the state to date. In the state capital, Lucknow 72 new cases were found positive in the last 24 hours. The age of the patients ranges from younger like one year to older like 80 years old.

Principal Secretary Health Amit Mohan Prasad said that Random samples are being taken from different clusters including urban slums, old age homes, and women hostels in the state. Yesterday, samples of Auto rickshaw drivers, bus drivers, and Truck drivers were taken. The government will soon disclose the results of the tests.