CARMEL — New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said a firm in Carmel, Indiana will begin regularly producing coronavirus test kits for the city.
Last week, Carmel announced it would donate 50,000 kits to New York City, along with Apex Medical, Zak Khan and Aria Diagnostics. On Tuesday, de Blasio said those kits will be “a big piece of the solution going forward,” but they will also be produced regularly for New York.
The company will produce 50,000 test kits per week for New York City.
“I'm sure New Yorkers wouldn't have thought that the calvary would come from Carmel, Indiana, but it has,” de Blasio said.
On Thursday, Vipin Adhlakha, co-founder of Apex Medical, said the donation plans will not affect local testing. As of Tuesday morning, more than 7,300 people in New York City have died from the coronavirus.
“To get to that point there's no transmission, we need a huge number of test kits,” de Blasio said. “Being able to know we can rely on 50,000 a week. From a supplier we believe in. That's going to be a major step forward for the city. I want to thank Mayor Jim Brainard. I've got to know him over the last few years very well through the U.S. Conference of Mayors. He and I are on the leadership of that body, and he has been an extraordinary friend and ally and really stepped up for New York City. Mayor Brainard, again, thank you. Thank you to everyone in Carmel. Thank you to Aria Diagnostics. This is a big step.”
