Gurugram, Mar 27 (IANS): As coronavirus outbreak intensifies across the globe as well as in India, a Gurugram-based clinical laboratory, CORE Diagnostics, on Friday received approval from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to start testing COVID-19 samples.

To ensure zero contamination of the samples, CORE Diagnostics has set up a separate facility within its high-end Gururgram lab to perform the confirmatory polymerase chain reaction-based (PCR) COVID-19 test with all strains that are approved by the central government.

"Private testing will definitely prove to be crucial to fight the deadly epidemic by widening the testing capabilities of the nation. CORE Diagnostics follows strict processes and will ensure government protocols are followed in handling samples and testing," said Zoya Brar, CEO and Founder, CORE Diagnostics.

"We will be using ICMR-approved testing kits to perform the confirmatory PCR-based tests and generate reports on the same day. We are also in touch with different state governments to set up labs in existing government hospitals if required," Brar added.

According to the company, there will be dedicated technicians and pathologists for COVID-19 testing with a turnaround-time of same day for the results.

Apart from this, separate staff will be assigned duties of accepting, cleaning and sanitizing the samples, submission in lab, extraction and report preparation, etc.

"We are in daily touch with the Stanford University School of Medicine COVID Response Team to stay abreast of daily developments," said Brar.