Pune: PMC to review containment zones every week now
Indu Bhagat
Pune, June 23, 2020: Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) will now be funding private laboratories to conduct tests for COVID-19. In an apparent move to increase testing centers and broaden the existing structure, the PMC plans to bear the whole cost of testing.
Need to increase testing capacity: The state government recommended that the maximum charge for each Covid-19 test by private laboratories should not exceed Rs 2,200. The PMC, therefore, is planning to bring down the price of the COVID-19 test. It plans to increase its daily testing capacity by 500 samples, to ensure enough testing is being done in the city. The officials recently conducted a meeting to discuss the guidelines capping the cost of sample testing by the private labs. Currently, 3,000 tests are conducted in the Pune district daily, out of which 1,500 to 2,000 take place in the city.
PMC will increase its review sessions: PMC takes the review of containment zones every 15 days, but as the numbers are increasing rapidly in non-containment zones, it has been decided to take a review every week. This way, new containment zones can be announced every week preferably on Friday.
