Now COVID-19 tests are at Rs 800 and Rs 1,000 in AP

The government has decided because of the increased availability of testing kits.

The Andhra Pradesh government has issued an order to reduce the cost of Covid-19 tests.

According to the order, the test costs Rs 800 for each sample, including pooled ones, if sent by the government.If any individual directly approaches the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) that are approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), they will have to pay Rs 1,000 per test.

All the charges like test cost, VTM, PPE have included in the current rates.The government has decided because of the widespread availability of coronavirus testing kits, and reduction in the cost of both RNA extraction and RT-PCR kits.

With this, the cost of Covid-19 tests is going to cut by 50 per cent at private laboratories, as the private labs are allowed to conduct the tests earlier.The government had reduced the cost of Covid-19 testing of each government-sent sample from Rs 2,400 to Rs 1,600 in August.

At that time, the rate for individual testing samples has reduced from Rs 2,900 to Rs 1,900.