CORE Diagnostics, NABL-accredited Gurgaon-based high end clinical laboratory, has received approval from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to start testing COVID-19 samples. As COVID-19 outbreak grows across the globe as well as India, the urgent need for widespread testing has also intensified.

To ensure zero contamination of the samples, CORE Diagnostics has setup a separate facility within its high-end Gurgaon lab to perform the confirmatory polymerase chain reaction based (PCR) COVID-19 test with all strains that are approved by the Government of India (GoI). There will be dedicated technicians and pathologists for COVID-19 testing with a turnaround-time of same day for the results. Apart from this, separate staff will be assigned duties of accepting, cleaning and sanitizing the samples, submission in lab, extraction, report preparation etc. CORE Diagnostics has capabilities to collect samples in accordance with the government protocols.

Elaborating on the current situation and the COVID-19 lab, Zoya Brar, CEO and Founder said, “Private testing will definitely prove to be crucial to fight the deadly epidemic by widening the testing capabilities of the nation. CORE Diagnostics follows strict processes and will ensure government protocols are followed in handling samples and testing. We will be using ICMR-approved testing kits to perform the confirmatory PCR-based test and generate the reports same day. We are also in touch with different state governments to setup labs in existing government hospitals, if required.  Beyond this, we are in daily touch with the Stanford University School of Medicine COVID Response Team to stay abreast on daily developments.”