Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, May 24: With the state making Covid-19 testing mandatory for all people returning from outside the state, and for those within the state with symptoms, the labs are struggling to return results even as it works seven days a week.
Samples collected from Arunachal are tested for the virus at the Tomo Riba Institute of Health and Medical Sciences and IRL at Naharlagun, and the Tezpur Medical College and the RMRC, Dibrugarh in Assam.
On Sunday, the total backlog was 873, while the total samples collected since the testing started stands at 5428.
A total of 222 were collected today with 42 in the Capital region and 41 in East Siang.
Secretary Health P Parthiban said that efforts are being made to step up testing.
“Two TRUENAT machines will start working soon at the IRL in Naharlagun and personnel are being trained to handle the machines,” he said.
He further said that the RMRC Dibrugarh is heavily loaded with samples from Assam and Arunachal.