Gulu University Laboratory is among the seven laboratories have been added onto the testing network for COVID-19 in the country.
Until today, the country was only using the Entebbe based Uganda Virus Research Institute-UVRI to conduct COVID-19 tests.
Recently, Gulu district covid-19 taskforce raised concerns over the laboratory turnaround time frame which is hurting the decision making process.
Doctor Tumwesigye Benson, the regional surveillance supervisor in the National Taskforce says that the maximum agreed turnaround time for samples taken to the national laboratory at Uganda virus research institute (UVRI) is three days.
According to the health ministry, the locations were chosen based on the dynamics of infection spread of the disease and the availability of testing reagents.
The introduction of the new laboratories comes at a time when the health ministry is planning to carry out mass surveillance where they are targeting to test at least 8.6 million Ugandans.
As of today, a total of 139 people have tested positive for the disease out of over 65,000 people who have been tested.
