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As confirmed COVID-19 cases in India near 300 mark, ICMR ropes in private labs for testing

As India prepares for a nation-wide ‘janata curfew’ on March 22nd, 98 new cases of coronavirus have been reported in India in the last 24 hours taking the total number of cases nears the 300-mark.

The ministry of health has announced that as many as 111 new labs will start functioning from today in the wake of the seriousness of the situation at hand. Reports have come in that private labs are being roped in for COVID-19 tests.

Meanwhile, of the close to 290 people who have tested positive, 39 are foreign nationals.

ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) has widened the scope of testing to include some asymptomatic individuals as well.

As of today, the health ministry is contact tracing over 7,000 persons and will keep a close watch if there has bee any community transmission.

The health ministry also reiterated that there is a lot of misinformation about masks and that not everybody neds to wear masks.

Northeast Live Digital Desk