COVID-19: Two OFB units get NABL nod to test blood penetration in fabric used to make coveralls

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, two units involved in the production of defence equipment in the country have got permission from India's laboratory approving authority for conducting the "test for blood penetration resistance" on fabric that is used to manufacture coveralls for health workers, the Union defence ministry said on Saturday. The two Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) units, which have received approvals from the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL), are a small arms factory in Kanpur and a heavy vehicle factory in Tamil Nadu. "The basic principle of the test is to expose the fabric used as a raw material to manufacture coveralls to 'synthetic blood' at different pressure levels for specified periods of time," the ministry said in its press release.

It further noted that the test is essentially required to facilitate bulk production of coveralls by manufacturers all over the country in large numbers for health workers and first responders dealing with patients afflicted with coronavirus.  "This will not only enable the OFB to ramp up production of coveralls in the clothing factories, four of which are in Uttar Pradesh and one is in Tamil Nadu, but will also enable other agencies engaged in the manufacture of coveralls to avail these testing facilities," the ministry said. It said this test was available only with South India Textile Research Association (SITRA), Coimbatore, in the entire country and testing of the fabric for manufacture of coveralls had emerged as a critical bottleneck "especially during the nationwide lockdown and in the absence of logistics".

India is currently under a 21-day lockdown till April 14 to combat the coronavirus pandemic that has infected around 7,400 people and killed more than 230 people in the country..