The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has approved the use of diagnostic machines used for testing drug-resistant tuberculosis for conducting coronavirus tests, as part of its efforts to ramp up the testing capacity for COVID-19.

“The ICMR has validated ‘TruenatTM beta CoV test on TruelabTM workstation’ and has recommended it as a screening test”, the top health research body, said on Friday.

The apex agency said that throat/nasal swabs will be collected in the viral transport medium (VTM) with virus lysis buffer provided along with the kit, as a guidance on the use of Truenat beta CoV.

“Earlier studies have shown that virus lysis buffer neutralizes Nipah and H1N1 viruses. The results of stability of viral RNA after neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 by virus lysis buffer are awaited from ICMR-NIV, Pune. Till such time, Truenat beta CoV test should only be performed with all biosafety precautions in BSL-2 or BSL-3 setups at laboratories,” it said.

The revised guidelines will be issued once the results from ICMR-NIV, Pune are available, it said.

With a view to prepare for any worst-case scenario, as India battles to contain the COVID-19 outbreak, the Indian Council of Medical Research on Monday said it is planning several interventions which include scaling-up testing capacity to one lakh tests/day in the coming months. The ICMR has approved over 200 labs (both public and private) for COVID-19 testing through-PCR machines.

“We are also identifying other government and private labs, research institutes and medical colleges which have the capability and infrastructure to undertake COVID-19 testing and are in conversation with them to include them in the testing network,” said ICMR.

The ICMR is also considering other interventions such as moving to 24×7 working model at existing labs, coordinating with states to increase manpower for various functions including data-entry, re-deploying automated and manual-PCR machines already in the country to aid COVID-19 testing effort, and optimising in-lab processes such as RNA extraction to reduce turnaround time between sample receipt and testing, it said.

The death toll due to the novel coronavirus rose to 199 and the number of cases climbed to 6,412 in the country on Friday, according to the Union Health Ministry.

According to news agency PTI’s  tally of figures reported by various states as on Thursday showed at least 6640 cases and 227 deaths. There has been a lag in the Union Health Ministry figures, compared to the number of cases announced by different states, which officials attribute to procedural delays in assigning the cases to individual states.

So far, ICMR was testing on patients who were showing the symptoms of COVID-19 like cough, fever and difficulty in breathing in only those who came from abroad, their contacts and the medical team looking after the patients.

Since the past 15 days, there is a huge jump in the number of Coronavirus cases, the ICMR has now increased testing and even roped in private laboratories for the tests.