<p class="title">If all goes well, a new Covid-19 testing laboratory will be set up here at the district hospital in Tumakuru next week. </p>.<p class="bodytext">Currently, throat swab and sputum samples are being sent for tests to the National Institute of Virology in Bengaluru. It takes the reports three days to come back. If a lab is set up in Tumakuru itself, the report can be had the same day the samples are taken. </p>.<p class="bodytext">The lab needs four technicians and a microbiologist. They have already been trained in Victoria Hospital in Bengaluru. A room next to the MRI scanning centre at the district hospital has been identified to set up the lab. Four rooms are needed.</p>.<p class="bodytext">There is a provision for the technicians to work in two shifts. As many as 96 samples can be tested in one shift; which means that 192 samples can be tested in a day. Two technicians will work per shift and they will not be allowed to do any other kind of work. </p>.<p class="bodytext">The lab needs 16 different kinds of equipment. Some of it will be imported from Bengaluru and the lab will begin to operate from next week, said District Surgeon Dr T A Veerabhadraiah. </p>
<p class="title">If all goes well, a new Covid-19 testing laboratory will be set up here at the district hospital in Tumakuru next week. </p>.<p class="bodytext">Currently, throat swab and sputum samples are being sent for tests to the National Institute of Virology in Bengaluru. It takes the reports three days to come back. If a lab is set up in Tumakuru itself, the report can be had the same day the samples are taken. </p>.<p class="bodytext">The lab needs four technicians and a microbiologist. They have already been trained in Victoria Hospital in Bengaluru. A room next to the MRI scanning centre at the district hospital has been identified to set up the lab. Four rooms are needed.</p>.<p class="bodytext">There is a provision for the technicians to work in two shifts. As many as 96 samples can be tested in one shift; which means that 192 samples can be tested in a day. Two technicians will work per shift and they will not be allowed to do any other kind of work. </p>.<p class="bodytext">The lab needs 16 different kinds of equipment. Some of it will be imported from Bengaluru and the lab will begin to operate from next week, said District Surgeon Dr T A Veerabhadraiah. </p>
