Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Feb 8;17(2):e0263736.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0263736. eCollection 2022.

External quality assessment of COVID-19 real time reverse transcription PCR laboratories in India

Harmanmeet Kaur  1 , Labanya Mukhopadhyay  1 , Nivedita Gupta  1 , Neeraj Aggarwal  1 , Lucky Sangal  2 , Varsha Potdar  3 , Francis Yesuraj Inbanathan  2 , Jitendra Narayan  1 , Swati Gupta  1 , Salaj Rana  1 , Neetu Vijay  1 , Harpreet Singh  4 , Jasmine Kaur  4 , Vinit Kumar  4 , Nirmal Kaundal  5 , Priya Abraham  3 , Vasanthapuram Ravi  6
Affiliations

External quality assessment of COVID-19 real time reverse transcription PCR laboratories in India

Harmanmeet Kaur et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Sudden emergence and rapid spread of COVID-19 created an inevitable need for expansion of the COVID-19 laboratory testing network across the world. The strategy to test-track-treat was advocated for quick detection and containment of the disease. Being the second most populous country in the world, India was challenged to make COVID-19 testing available and accessible in all parts of the country. The molecular laboratory testing network was augmented expeditiously, and number of laboratories was increased from one in January 2020 to 2951 till mid-September, 2021. This rapid expansion warranted the need to have inbuilt systems of quality control/ quality assurance. In addition to the ongoing inter-laboratory quality control (ILQC), India implemented an External Quality Assurance Program (EQAP) with assistance from World Health Organization (WHO) and Royal College of Pathologists, Australasia. Out of the 953 open system rRTPCR laboratories in both public and private sector who participated in the first round of EQAP, 891(93.4%) laboratories obtained a passing score of > = 80%. The satisfactory performance of Indian COVID-19 testing laboratories has boosted the confidence of the public and policy makers in the quality of testing. ILQC and EQAP need to continue to ensure adherence of the testing laboratories to the desired quality standards.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Regional QC laboratories of India.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Corman VM, Landt O, Kaiser M, Molenkamp R, Meijer A, Chu DKW, et al. Detection of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) by real-time RT-PCR. Eurosurveillance [Internet]. 2020. Jan 23 [cited 2021 Sep 3];25(3). Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31992387/ - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gupta N, Potdar V, Praharaj I, Giri S, Sapkal G, Yadav P, et al. Laboratory preparedness for SARS-CoV-2 testing in India: Harnessing a network of Virus Research & Diagnostic Laboratories. Indian J Med Res [Internet]. 2020. [cited 2021 Sep 3];151(2):216–25. Available from: https://www.ijmr.org.in/article.asp?issn=0971-5916;year=2020;volume=151;... doi: 10.4103/ijmr.IJMR_594_20 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Andrews MA, Areekal B, Rajesh K, Krishnan J, Suryakala R, Krishnan B, et al. First confirmed case of COVID-19 infection in India: A case report [Internet]. Vol. 151, Indian Journal of Medical Research. Indian J Med Res; 2020. [cited 2021 Sep 16]. p. 490–2. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32611918/ doi: 10.4103/ijmr.IJMR_2131_20 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. ICMR. List of Mentor Institutes along with Allocated States [Internet]. 2020 [cited 2021 Sep 16]. Available from: https://www.icmr.gov.in/pdf/covid/labs/Mentor_Institutes.pdf
    1. Indian Council of Medical Research. Total Operational (initiated independent testing) Laboratories reporting to ICMR. 2021 Sep 2 [cited 2021 Sep 3]; Available from: https://www.icmr.gov.in/pdf/covid/labs/COVID_Testing_Labs_02092021.pdf

MeSH terms