Jammu, Apr 27 (IANS): A private foundation has helped the Union Territory of Ladakh set up its first Covid-19 testing laboratory.

So far, Ladakh has reported 18 Covid-19 positive cases. No death has been reported fron the Union Territory (UT) till now.

The Pernod Ricard India Foundation has helped the UT set up the lab under its corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm.

The setting up of the testing lab in the remote, generally inaccessible region will ensure timely and cost-effective testing for the local people.

It would enable the administration to understand the scale of the disease spread, gauge the preparedness of the local healthcare system for spontaneous challenges in treating and quarantining patients and enforce preemptive measures well in advance.

Masks and hand sanitisers are helping in keeping the frontline health workers and the security personnel safe at possible sites of exposure while treating the affected people and managing public movement.

Sunil Duggar, Vice Chairman of the foundation, told IANS, "At this crucial time when Covid-19 poses a national challenge, we believe that urgent emergency resources need to be deployed to fight the crisis.

"We are committed to fill the demand-supply gap for critical equipment like respiratory systems, ventilators, increase quantity of ICU beds at the state government ICUs, and rendering support across remote geographies. We are happy to support Ladakh in setting up a Covid1-19 testing lab.

"A fully equipped BSL-2 lab compliant with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) standards would help the local people. Additionally, 40,000 medical masks, 500 N95 masks and 1,000 hand sanitiser units have been provided for use by frontline warriors in the territory."