Panaji, Mar 24 (IANS): Struggling without a virus testing laboratory, as well as lack of flight facilities to Mumbai in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Tuesday that a special flight has been arranged by the Union Defence Ministry for transportation of seven blood samples drawn from suspected coronavirus patients in the coastal state.

Sawant said that the special flight, which was allotted one-time for the transportation of samples, would also carry a medical team from Goa, which would be trained at a government virology laboratory in Mumbai vis-a-vis testing of samples related to coronavirus.

"We were sending samples to Mumbai, but there was no air facility. We had requested Union Minister of State for Defence Shripad Naik and he offered a special plane to send the samples as well as to send a doctors' team by the special flight for training in testing of samples," Sawant told reporters here.

The Goa government is expected to set up a virology laboratory by next month, the Chief Minister had previously announced. Currently, samples are being sent to the government-run virology labs in Mumbai and Pune.

The Chief Minister also said that 20 suspect cases were currently under observation in re state.