4135 people confirmed of COVID-19 among suspected cases, contacts of known positive cases in India: ICMR

New Delhi [India], April 7 (ANI): A total of 4135 individuals have been confirmed positive among suspected cases and contacts of known positive cases in India, said Indian Council of Medical Research on Monday.
"A total of 1,01,068 samples have been tested as on April 9, 9 pm. 4135 individuals have been confirmed positive among suspected cases and contacts of known positive cases in India," said ICMR.
It further said that on April 6, till 9 pm, 11432 samples have been reported, of which 311 were positive for SARS-CoV-2.
Meanwhile, the ICMR said, "As a measure to scale up its capacity to combat against coronavirus, it has procured 10 lakh Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) kits used for diagnosis and 7 depots have been established for uninterrupted supply of reagents across the nation for efficient distribution to government testing laboratories.
"A total of 136 government laboratories and 56 private laboratories have been made functional. The laboratories have testing capacity of 18,000 tests per day. In addition to this, two high throughput machine Cobass6800 have been made functional which can test 1400 samples at a time," the ICMR said.
ICMR has recommended empiric use of hydroxy-chloroquine for prophylaxis of SARS-CoV-2 infection in both asymptomatic healthcare workers involved in the care of suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19 and asymptomatic household contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases.
ICMR has procured 10 lakh Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) kits used for diagnosis and 7 depots have been established for uninterrupted supply of reagents across the nation for efficient distribution to government testing laboratories.
"All US-FDA/EU CE approved RT-PCR and antibody kits can be used for COVID19 diagnosis after approval from Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) and intimation to ICMR," the ICMR added.(ANI)