PU sets up lab to test Covid-19 suspects

LAHORE: Punjab University Vice Chancellor Prof Niaz Ahmad inaugurated a diagnostic laboratory to test samples of suspected patients of Covid-19 at the university’s Centre for Applied Molecular Biology (CAMB) here on Monday.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof Dr Niaz Ahmad said PU had the state of the art laboratories and it would serve the country and the nation at this critical time. He said at the moment, as many as 100 tests of coronavirus suspects would be conducted per day for diagnosis and this capacity would be enhanced by the time.

He said the researchers of CAMB and CEMB had made day and night efforts to set up this laboratory on emergency basis. He said the domestic Covid-19 diagnostic kit developed by Dr Muhammad Idrees would also be utilised in the laboratory for testing the samples of suspected patients that would be referred by Punjab government.

Dr Muhammad Idrees Khan said the total cost of per Covid-19 diagnostic test would be around Rs 800. He said: “We were about to receive raw material to be used for preparation of the kits in a day and soon we would produce COVID-19 diagnostic kits on mass scale.”