Setolabo LLC (Headquarters: Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture) announced the opening of the Setolabo Sanitary Testing Center, which can perform PCR tests for the new coronavirus (SARS-Cov-2), on November 27, 2020. The center will establish the largest testing system in the Chugoku and Shikoku regions, with a processing capacity of up to 3,500 samples per day.
To open a hygiene testing laboratory, it is necessary to undergo rigorous screening and approval by the public health center and register with the prefectural governor and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. While the laboratory is expected to be highly accurate, it also takes many months to open in order to meet legal and national standards.
On the other hand, PCR tests for the new coronavirus, which are currently seeing a rapid increase in cases in Japan, are carried out in simplified laboratories at clinics that can be opened without screening by law, so there are said to be insufficient monitoring systems and quality control, and many of these tests are being opened for commercial purposes, raising concerns about a decline in quality in some areas.
On the other hand, PCR tests for the new coronavirus, which are currently seeing a rapid increase in cases in Japan, are carried out in simplified laboratories at clinics that can be opened without screening by law, so there are said to be insufficient monitoring systems and quality control, and many of these tests are being opened for commercial purposes, raising concerns about a decline in quality in some areas.
There is a high possibility that the PCR tests offered by this hygiene testing center will have a major impact on the “quality of PCR testing” in Japan in the future, and with many clinics entering the PCR testing business, the center hopes to give consumers a new option that has never been offered before.