India’s New COVID-19 Test Kit Is Fast And Cost-Effective

Amid the CO.VID-19 outbreak, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has put the whole country under lockdown for 21 days. People are worried whether they have been infected or not.

Researchers around the world are racing to find the vaccine to counter the virus. But besides search for a cure, it is equally important to conduct as many tests and as soon as possible.

As of now, the only firm that has received approval from India National Institute of Virology to manufacture CO.VID-91 test kits is Ahmedabad-based CoSara Diagnostics Pvt Ltd, which is a joint venture between Ambalal Sarabhai Enterprises of India and Co-Diagnostics Inc, USA.

However, now, a molecular diagnostic company from Pune called Mylab has also joined the list.

Mylab’s test is called Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). Normally, it takes conventional lab tests around four hours to deliver the results. However, the novel methodology of Mylab cut it down to only 2.5 hours.

Previously, the Indian Council of Medical Research has limited the testing to only patients that have a travel history as well as some suspected case. 15 people are tested, in a population of a million.

The research body of the government has always wanted to expend the count’s testing facilities. And with Mylab, this can be turned into a reality.

Mylab stated that it can carry out one lakh tests per week. And the company wants to scale it even further. The kits of the company can study 200 samples from smaller labs and 1,000 from large labs. The starting price of the kit will be around Rs 1,200.

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