Get Corona tests done at below Rs 500, soon
New Delhi: In a major achievement, the CSIR has developed a low-cost Corona testing kit that would help in fast-tracking testing at the mass level. As per CSIR scientists, the testing kit, which can give results in about one hour, is in the approval stage and it would cost below Rs 500 for a test.
The testing kit has been developed by CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) in a record time of just two months. While talking to Millennium Post, Dr Debojyoti Chakraborty said, "The CSIR's institute was working on this technology for the last 1.5 years and the Corona testing was adopted in just two months as the project was started in January-end after positive cases of Covid-19 started getting reported."
"It's a paper-based testing kit as similar to pregnancy kit and it can be used by any pathologist. There is no need to have a specialised technician for conducting the tests through CSIR-developed kits," Chakraborty said, adding that a team of seven scientists were involved in this project which was also coordinated by Dr Souvik Maiti.
"The sample is converted into DNA and then it will go on the strip, which would give a distinct line on the strip if Coronavirus present in it," Chakraborty said, adding the kit is not yet ready for home-testing. However, it can be conducted at any university lab, etc as it doesn't require any special equipment.
"It can be conducted at any routine pathology lab, mohalla clinics, etc. The whole process takes about 1 hour right from RNA to the detection. The cost of the kit would be fixed at below Rs 500," he said.
Chakraborty further said that technology is not only valid for Covid-19 rather a wide variety of viruses can be detected through it, including dengue, chikungunya, etc. "We are currently running this test on Covid-19 patient samples to understand the accuracy and the results are promising. All the Covid-19 samples are being tested at IGIB only," he said.
Meanwhile, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has also developed a number of PPE products such as CBRN permeable suit Mk V, which has been developed by DRDE, Gwalior and 53,000 such suits have been supplied to Army and NDRF.
