The Punjab Health Department on September 2 reduced charges for a rapid antigen test for coronavirus by private labs to Rs 700.

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The Health Minister said the government has reduced the charges from Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 700, inclusive of the GST and other taxes. It has been left to the private labs to fix rates for the collection of samples from houses, he said in a statement. There are 45 ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) approved private labs conducting COVID tests in the state. The minister said the government has fixed a maximum of Rs. 2,400 for a RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction) test. Punjab's COVID tally stood at 56,989 cases with 1,618 deaths on September 2.