Arunachal Pradesh Health Minister Alo Libang today inaugurated the second COVID-19 testing lab at Intermediate Reference Laboratory at Naharlagun, near Itanagar. Testing at this lab will be carried out by TRUENAT machines, capable of screening 20 samples per day.

Mr. Libang, while congratulating the department for setting up the COVID-19 Testing Centre in such a short period, said, it will lessen the burden of the lone Testing Centre at TRIHMS Naharlagun during this pandemic situation in the state.

The first COVID-19 testing lab in the state was made functional on 30th of April, which has a capacity of testing 100 samples per day. As of now, 2,061 samples have been collected so far in the state for COVID-19 testing, of which 1,477 tested negative, 61 have tested negative on repeat tests and results of 521 are yet to come. The lone COVID-19 patient was discharged from the hospital last month after full recovery. There is no active case of COVID-19 in Arunachal Pradesh as of now.

Meanwhile, In Maharashtra, eighteen more people have been arrested by Maharashtra Police's Crime Investigation Department in the Palghar lynching case. The CID is probing the incident in which three persons, including two seers, were lynched by a mob of villagers in Palghar district last month.

With the latest arrests, the number of those held in connection with the case has gone up to 134. These include 24 arrested so far by the CID after it was handed over the case. Earlier, 110 people, including nine juveniles, were taken into custody by Palghar Police in this case.

The incident took place at Gadchinchle village on 16th of April when two seers were heading towards Surat from Mumbai in a car with a driver to attend a funeral. A mob of villagers stopped them and beat them to death on suspicion that they were child-lifters, even as a few police personnel had reached the spot. Some of the accused later fled into the dense forest.