4.1. Regional Labs: It was proposed to set up at least one BSL- 3 Laboratory in each region of the country. Regional Laboratories have state-of-art facilities so that it could achieve the objectives in research, continuous monitoring and surveillance of existing as well as new viral and other strains and handling of viruses etc. with a potential of being used as agents of bioterrorism, capacity building, diagnosis, development of diagnostic kits etc. Total ten sites out of AIIMS like Institutions/and other Central Government Institutes of repute by the Expert Committee based on the available infrastructure like microbiology labs and epidemiological needs of the region were identified, thereby, a total of 10 Regional Laboratories had been established during the past period of scheme, 1 more Regional Laboratories (11th) would be established during the 15th Finance omission Period (2021-22-2025-26). The Regional Lab can be established in Central Government Institutes of repute including Armed Medical College.
4.2. State Level Laboratories: State Level Laboratories are equipped with BSL- 2 facility and expected to carry out serology, RT-PCR, isolation, fluorescence microscopy, tissue culture and sequencing for all enlisted viruses. These laboratories are also expected to be involved in basic as well as applied research on viruses, development of kits and diagnostic reagents and identification of unknown/referred samples from the Sub-state level laboratories.
4.3. Medical College Level Lab: Each medical college lab will cover a cluster of 3-4 districts. In case of any outbreak / epidemic, these medical college level labs will carry out the initial diagnosis/ screening at the most peripheral areas & nearest to the site of outbreak. While the medical college labs will be expected to identify all listed common viruses, the viruses/agents which cannot be identified by these labs will be referred to
