In an attempt to augment the city’s COVID testing capacity, a ‘high throughput lab’ has been launched at the King George Medical University in Lucknow. Instituted at the Department of Microbiology of the varsity, the new centre will help in boosting the daily testing numbers to 1.5 times their present value. As per reports, the latest intervention is driven by an increase in the count of RT-PCR testing machines and RNA extraction devices.
KGMU’s Microbiology Department leads testing tallies in the country
With a 50% hike in daily testing, this KGMU centre will play an important role in strengthening the guard against the virus. As per reports, the lab was inaugurated by Alok Kumar, Principal Secretary of Medical Education. Speaking at the event, he applauded the efforts of the department of microbiology. Notably, the launch event was also marked by the esteemed presence of the KGMU Vice-Chancellor, Lt Gen (retd) Dr Bipin Puri.
In a remarkable feat, the microbiology department of the institute has been successful in conducting over 22 lakh tests, making it the centre with the highest number of tests in the country. Besides, genome sequencing facilities are also available here, which helps in determining the specific strain of the virus. Due to this, the department at the institute has been leading research activities in the city too.
9 new cases & 11 recoveries marked in Lucknow on Wednesday
With the dropping COVID tallies in Lucknow, city life is gradually reverting to normalcy. On Wednesday, 9 new infections and 11 recoveries were reported in Lucknow. Driven by this, the active tally of the city has contracted to a count of 127 patients. As of now, a cumulative tally of 2,38,478 patients has been infected by the virus while a total of 2,651 deaths have been reported to date.
