In order to extend the scope of rapid antigen tests and to ensure that more of it is conducted in the upcoming days, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has issued a proposal saying that it will provide private labs with the test kits and cost of testing as well, and in return they would send their teams to the testing sites to conduct them. The civic body will ask for an Expression of Interest (EoI) from the private players in the next couple of days.

Till now, a total of 3.60 lakh real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) COVID-19 tests have been conducted in the city. Though the RT-PCR tests are the most efficient, the rapid antigen tests are quicker in terms of giving results because the diagnosis is done within 30 minutes. Hence, after getting approval from the ICMR for antigen tests, the civic body ordered 1-lakh antigen test kits worth of R4.5 crore, approximately R450 per kit.