India, April 7 -- The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is working relentlessly to implement scientific interventions to combat the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic. The Council has expanded its capacity to diagnose and manage COVID-19.

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.

New RT-PCR kits are being validated by 4 ICMR institutes for their use. Till now, 19 non-US FDA EUA/CE IVD real-time RT-PCR kits have been validated of which 05 have been recommended based on 100% concordance with positive and negative samples...