Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma inaugurates Covid testing lab at IASST

Guwahati: In a bid to add more teeth in its fight against the deadly Covid-19, the Assam Government on Monday added one more Covid-19 testing laboratory to its kitty. This Boragaon-located laboratory, set up as a joint collaboration between the Institute of Advanced Study in Science & Technology (IASST) and the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), will now test close to 10,000 samples daily.

"Daily we will be able to conduct 1,000 tests here. As soon as we can reach that number, we will be able to release quarantined persons who are coming to Sarusajai via rail and road landing at the airports. After a week, we will be  It used to take long previously as the results took time as the testing centres were completely occupied. If we receive the samples today, we can process them in a day and release the results on the next day itself.", said Assam Finance and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who inaugurated this latest facility.

Biswa Sarma later took to Twittter where he wrote, "In a unique collaboration between GMCH & Institute of Advanced Study in Science & Technology (IASST), a microbiology lab is set up at the latter. It shall bolster our COVID testing by 1,000 per day. Compliments to Director IASST and the Principal of GMCH. We inaugurated it today."

Assam's Change in Gameplan to Tackle the Covid-19 Crisis:

Meanwhile, with a view to reducing the burden on the state exchequer, the Assam Government has reduced institutional quarantine for returnees down to 4 days. Additionally, Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the focus will be on conducting a massive number of tests instead. The Government is eyeing to open up 11 testing centres in the coming 1 week.

With the boost in testing capacities, test results of the quarantined persons will be released within 72 hours, said Sarma. At the same time, the Finance Minister has asserted that the economy of the state must keep chugging ahead, despite the threat of the coronavirus. Informing about the state's tax and GST collection, he said, "Against a collection of Rs 147 crore in April, Assam has collected Rs 360 crore in May."

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