In a letter to all states and Union Territories today, the Director-General of ICMR, Dr Balram Bhargava wrote that “the earlier suggested upper ceiling of Rs 4,500 per test may not be applicable now and therefore all state governments/UT administrations are advised to negotiate with private labs and fix up mutually agreeable prices for samples being sent by the government and also for private individuals desirous of testing by these labs.”

It is unclear what the pricing will be but states and UTs may come up with their own pricing for testing in private labs. The current price cap for testing samples for the novel coronavirus disease in the private labs is Rs 4,500, which was fixed in March.

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