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Bengaluru, Aug 5: Touted as a first of its kind in the nation, a mobile Covid-19 lab was inaugurated on Wednesday by the Karnataka Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar.

The lab, approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) can do 9,000 RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) tests per month, an official press release said here. "This is a unique lab having all safety features and capable of producing 100% accurate results within four hours," Dr Sudhakar was quoted as saying in the press release.

The Indian Institute of Science (IISC) had developed the lab and handed it over to the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS).

The mobile lab can also be used for molecular diagnostic-testing and can be deployed in coronavirus hot spots quickly, the release said adding, apart from Covid-19, the lab can be utilised for testing H1N1, HCV, TB, HPV and HIV among others.

Mangaluru, July 31: Coronavirus related deaths in Dakshina Kannada continued to surge, with the district administration recording five more fatalities in a day, thus taking the tally to 155.

The district has recorded multiple deaths every day from July 1 to 31. A majority of the deaths are due to comorbid conditions.

Among the five deaths reported today, a 47-year-old man from Mangaluru, was admitted to private hospital on July 30, and breathed his last on the same day. He was suffering from ARDS, Type 1 respiratory failure, COPD, Type II DM, HTN and died due to cardiac arrest.

Another patient was a 75-year-old man from Bantwal, who was admitted to a private hospital on July 23, and passed away on July 30. He was suffering from acute coronary syndrome, pneumonia (ARDS), metabolic encephalopathy, acute kidney injury, systemic hypertension, and type 2 diabetes mellitus.

The third patient was a 63-year-old man from Mangaluru, who was admitted to a private hospital on July 18, and passed away on July 30. He was suffering from ARDS, septic shock, renal failure, and secondary bacterial infection.

The fourth patient was an 88-year-old woman from Davanagere, who was admitted to a private hospital on July 9, and passed away on July 30. She was suffering from septic shock, and secondary bacterial infection.

The fifth patient was a 75-year-old man from Mangaluru. He was admitted to Wenlock hospital on July 15, and passed away on July 30. He was suffering from refractory ARDS, septic shock, renal failure, acute coronary event, arrhythmias, pulmonary thromboembolism, and hemoperitoneum.

The district administration said that though the above patients contracted coronavirus, the exact cause of their deaths is being investigated by a team of experts and their report is awaited.

On the other hand, Dakshina Kannada district recorded a total of 204 fresh cases, taking the tally to 5,713. Among the 204 new cases are 75 primary contacts, 63 with influenza-like illness (ILI), and 14 with severe acute respiratory illness (SARI). As many as 52 cases are under investigation. As many as 70 patients were discharged on Friday from Wenlock as well as private hospitals.

As per the district health bulletin, a total of 40,706 samples have been tested so far and 34,993 out of them have tested negative. Among the 5,713 positive cases reported in the district, only 2,929 are currently active. As many as 2,631 persons have recovered and been discharged.