Coronavirus: You Can Now Do COVID Test At Private Labs At Just Rs 500

Pune, 1 April 2021: Maharashtra Government has slashed the rates of RT-PCR tests for COVID-19 at private laboratories by around 50 percent. Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope announced that the RT-PCR tests will now be conducted at Rs 500, down from the earlier rate of Rs 1,000.

The Government has also reduced the rates of Rapid Antigen Tests to Rs 150. If test samples for RT-PCR are taken at a COVID Care Collection Centre, Hospital Clinic or Quarantine Centre, the person will have to pay Rs 600, while the collection of samples from home will cost a person Rs 800.

The rates have been revised around five to six times since the beginning of the pandemic, starting from Rs 4,500 to Rs 500 now. The Indian Council for Medical Research has given approval to several companies to make the test kits available. The kits are now available at affordable rates as well. Thus, the cost borne by the private laboratories for conducting RT-PCR tests has also decreased, due to which, the State Government has made it compulsory for them to slash the rates of the tests for the public.