Maharashtra govt reduces Covid-19 testing rates for 4th time

Health Minister Tope said the new rates will be Rs 900, Rs 1400 and Rs 1800 per test, adding it was the fourth time rates had been revised from the original Rs 4,500

Health workers in personal protective equipment (PPE) collect swab samples from migrants who returned from their hometown at a railway station during a rapid antigen testing campaign for the coronavirus disease, on the outskirts of Mumbai, India, October, 3, 2020. Credit: Reuters Photo

The Maharashtra government has brought down the rate for Covid-19 tests conducted at private laboratories by Rs 200, state health minister Rajesh Tope said on Monday.

Tope, in a statement, said the new rates will be Rs 900, Rs 1400 and Rs 1800 per test, adding it was the fourth time rates had been revised from the original Rs 4,500.

"While Rs 900 will be the cost that can be levied by pathological laboratories, charges for tests conducted through laboratories at Covid-19 centres, hospitals and quarantine centres will be Rs 1400. A rate of Rs 1,800 has been allowed for testing samples collected from homes," the statement quoted Tope as saying.

He added that the state was carrying out 70,000 tests per one million people now and efforts were on to raise it further.

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