VIJAYAWADA: In what would help ramp up COVID-19 testing in the State, the Andhra Pradesh Med Tech Zone (AMTZ) in Visakhapatnam has started manufacturing 2,000 rapid test kits per day. The indigenous kits, which were unveiled by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday, will reduce the testing time to 55 minutes, as against the two-three days needed for PCR tests, Industries minister Mekapati Goutham Reddy said. From April 15, ventilators will also be made at AMTZ.
While 2,000 rapid test kits are being manufactured every day now, production will be amped up to 10,000 kits in two weeks, and from May 1, the goal is to produce 25,000 kits per day.
“This will enable us to meet at least 60 percent of the requirement for testing in the State. In a few weeks, I think we will have enough kits to meet the State’s requirements. After that, we will supply them to other States,” the minister said in a press meet at the Secretariat after meeting the CM at the latter’s camp office in Tadepalli. The Industries Department, which donated 1,000 such kits to the CM, said that Andhra Pradesh was the first State in India to have started manufacturing test kits on such a scale.
Goutham Reddy added that about 20 tests can be performed with each kit, and would cost the government `1,200. The government plans to scale up the supply of kits so that 4,000 tests can be conducted each day in the State. DNA, RNA, PCR tests can also be performed using these kits, and results will be available in 55 minutes, he said.
“The production of kits, with the help of the Centre, has been done in record time. The entire process — conceptualization, financing, technology procurement, and production — took only 35 days,” the minister added. The production of ventilators will also begin from April 15. “We will have about 3,000 ventilators by April 30. We have the capacity to make 3,000 units per month, and plan to raise it to 5,000-6,000 units a month,” he said.
