After carrying out antigen tests at various quarantine centres in the suburbs, the civic body is set to rope in private laboratories to ramp up the city's testing capacity. While the health department floated a tender on Tuesday to get private labs on board, a couple of them have been told to start testing in certain areas Wednesday onwards until the tendering process is over.

Starting Wednesday, Thyrocare and Suburban Diagnostics have been asked to accompany the civic body's screening teams in Malad and Jogeshwari. Chandrasekhar Mani, vice president of Thyrocare said, "We have received a list of five locations in Jogeshwari and Malad. Based on the schedule, we will accompany the BMC's team to the housing societies. We expect to do 200-300 tests per day." Health department officials said a similar schedule has been worked out with Suburban Diagnostics and a spokesperson of theirs said they will carry out the tests in Malad.