With the rampant increase in the number of corona virus cases in the last few days, the Indian government is intensifying their testing strategies, as suggested by the World Health Organisation. As per the recent announcement of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) , there are currently 126 government approved testing laboratories and 51 approved private laboratories. Additionally, there are 9 laboratories in the pipeline too. 

Recently ICMR also came out with a list of 6 government laboratories found suitable for COVID19 testing but not supported by ICMR:

1. Karnataka :
- National Institute of Mental Health & Neurosciences, Bengaluru.
- Wenlock District Hospital, Mangalore

2. Madhya Pradesh 
- Defense Research Development Establishment, Gwalior

3. Tamil Nadu
- Stanley Medical College, Chennai

4. Telangana
- Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology, Hyderabad

5. West Bengal
- Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute, Kolkata

The circular on the ICMR website also states:

1. ICMR will not provide diagnostic kits / reagents to these laboratories.
2. They may initiate testing as per directives of the respective State Govt.
3. Each laboratory initiating COVID-19 testing should essentially register on the ICMR portal and get a username and password. Data entry should be ensured on a daily real-time basis. Contact points for registration:
 - Dr. Harpreet Singh: hsingh@bmi.icmr.org.in
 - Dr. Ira Prahraj: praharaj.ira@icmr.gov.in