Karnataka to triple COVID-19 testing; Labs to be set up in PPP model
Bengaluru: Keen to scale up testing infrastructure for COVID-19, the Karnataka government has decided to establish RT-PCR labs in Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model and the tender process for it would be taken up soon, Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar said on Friday.
Following the directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, measures were being taken to increase the testing by three times, he said.
To support this further, tender will be floated soon by the Health and Medical Education departments to set up labs for carrying out RT-PCR tests, Sudhakar was quoted as saying by his office in a release.
The state has achieved a new milestone by conducting 50 lakhs COVID-19 tests so far and the government was aiming to increase the number of daily tests from the present around one lakh to to 1.5 lakhs, he added.
The Minister on Thursday inaugurated the new Covid testing lab by Eurofins Clinical Genetics India (ECGI) in Whitefield, and it was expected to conduct up to 5,000 tests per day.
He said 144 labs have been inaugurated in the state in the last six months.
Despite creating awareness about the spread of coronavirus, the positive cases were increasing in the state, and hence, the government has taken strict action by hiking the penalty to Rs 1,000 for not wearing masks at public places, he said.
Though positive cases were high in the state, the death rate is under control, at 1.52 per cent, he said.
The tally of COVID-19 cases in the state stood at 6.11 lakh while the toll was 8,994 as of Thursday.
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NEET student hangs self in Rajasthan's Sikar
Jaipur (PTI): A student preparing for the NEET examination allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in a rented room in Rajasthan's Sikar on Friday, police said.
According to the police, the student allegedly hanged himself from a ceiling fan using his sister's scarf while one sister was attending coaching classes and the other was in the bathroom.
He had appeared in the NEET UG exam 2026, which was cancelled due to paper leak, they said.
Udyog Nagar SHO Rajesh Kumar said that the deceased, identified as Pradeep Meghwal, was a resident of Kanika ki Dhani village in Jhunjhunu's Gudha Gaudji area.
He had been living in a rented room in Sikar's Jaldhari Nagar area with his two sisters while preparing for NEET over the last three years.
His elder sister later found him hanging and informed the landlord and police after bringing him down, officials said.
The SHO said the body was kept at SK Hospital mortuary, and a postmortem had not been conducted.
The student's father, Rajesh Kumar Meghwal, told police that Pradeep's NEET examination had gone well and the family was expecting him to score around 650 marks.
Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot expressed grief over the incident and linked it to anxiety among students after reports of irregularities and paper leaks in NEET 2026.
Pilot said repeated paper leak incidents and cancellation of examinations were affecting students' mental health and demanded a time-bound investigation and strict action against those responsible.
