1.5 lac locally made testing kits to hit markets soon: Fawad Chaudhry

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry on Thursday said that the local testing kits for Covid-19 would be available in the market soon after the approval from the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP).

“National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) has developed 1.5 lac testing kits, which has been forwarded to DRAP for approval,” said Fawad, adding that the kits would be available in the market soon.

Fawad Chaudhary further said that NUST has also made hand sanitizers and drones. He said that Pakistan Engineering Council had received 48 designs for ventilators and out of which the engineering council has forwarded two designs to DRAP for approval.

“The locally-produced ventilators will also be available in the market by a month,” said the minister adding that the locally-produced material would be as per the international standards.

The minister said that Pakistan will soon become the country to export ventilators.

It must be noted that the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Pakistan rose to 2,291 on Thursday after new infections were confirmed in the country.

The national dashboard, maintained by the federal ministry of health, reported that seven more patients of coronavirus had passed away taking the nation-wide toll to 31.

Punjab has the highest number of infections up to 845 followed by Sindh with 743 patients. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) reported 276 cases, 187 in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), 169 in Balochistan, 62 in Islamabad and 9 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).