RANGPUR, April 11, 2020 (BSS) – The COVID-19 laboratory at Rangpur Medical College (RMC) in the city has so far tested a total of 413 collected samples of suspected coronavirus (COVID-19) infected patients of Rangpur division.
“With testing of 55 more samples of suspected patients today, the number of total tested samples rose to 413 here,” said Focal Point of the COVID-19 Laboratory and Lecturer (Virology) of the Department of Microbiology at RMC Dr. MA Aziz.
After installation of the COVID-19 Laboratory at the Department of Microbiology at RMC, testing of samples of suspected COVID-19 infected patients began on April 3.
“Earlier we tested samples of 91 suspected COVID-19 patients on April 10, 89 on April 9, 56 on April 8, 53 on April 7, 27 on April 6 and 42 samples on the first day on April 3 at the laboratory,” he said. With the assistance of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), testing of collected samples from suspected patients is continuing smoothly at the COVID-19 Laboratory of RMC.
“The results of tests of collected samples of suspected COVID-19 infected patients from all over Rangpur division at the COVID-19 Laboratory at RMC are being sent to the IEDCR daily,” Dr. Aziz added.
Currently, the COVID-19 Laboratory has a maximum capacity to test samples of 94 suspected COVID-19 patients simultaneously using 94 well plates once a day using the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) machine.