Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Saturday said that the government has reduced the rates of the COVID-19 tests conducted by private laboratories from Rs 4,500 to Rs 2,200. Talking to PTI, Tope said the lowering of rates for the tests would provide a relief to the people. "Rs 2,200 will be charged for collecting the swabs through viral transport media VTM from hospitals, while it would cost Rs 2,800 for collection of swab from home. Earlier, the charges were Rs 4,500 and Rs 5,200 respectively," he said.

The revised rates are the maximum these labs can charge. District collectors can negotiate with private labs to reduce the rates further, Tope said. "If the private labs charge more than the prescribed upper limit, legal action would be taken against them," he said, claiming that the new rates will be the lowest in the country. The minister said that at present, there are 91 labs in the state for COVID-19 testing and about four to five are in the pipeline. According to him, the government had last week formed a four-member committee to fix the rates of COVID-19 tests conducted by authorised private laboratories in the state.