India set up first mobile Covid-testing lab

India has set up its first mobile testing laboratory in a bid to meet the growing demand to conduct coronavirus disease (Covid-19) tests. The mobile laboratory, with on-site Elisa, RtPCR & Bio-chem analysers, was created within eight days by a team from Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone Limited.

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Key-Points

The laboratory can be deployed at remote and inaccessible areas in the country, where there is no such facility even as the overall Covid-19 testing capacity has reached three lakh swab samples per day.

The facility aims to put India on the global map of high-end medical equipment production and make healthcare products affordable and accessible not only in the country, but also the world at large.

BSLs are ranked from one to four and are categorised on the basis of the organisms that the researchers are dealing with.

BSL-I is considered to be the least hazardous, while BSL-IV poses the maximum safety risk. Each level builds on the previous category, adding more layers of constraints and barriers.

The organisms include viruses, bacteria, fungi, parasites, etc.

SARS-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19, belongs to the BSL-II category.