Researchers At IIT-Delhi Have Developed Affordable COVID-19 Test

As the COVID-19 outbreak is spreading around the world, researchers are racing to develop a vaccine to counter the virus.

While the government is taking all the necessary measures to tackle the virus, Indian researchers are also putting their efforts into finding a cure.

Besides finding a vaccine, testing for the virus is also one of the greatest challenges as the number of confirmed cases keeps rising every day.

Now, researchers at IIT-Delhi have developed a new method to test COVID-19 which can lower the test cost significantly, making it accessible for large sections.

The test is being validated on clinical samples by the National Institute of Virology.

Kusuma School of Biological Sciences’ researchers have developed a probe-free detection assay. At the Institute’s research labs, researchers have optimized and tested the assay for sensitivity. The team states that the development of local kits is extremely needed considering the pandemic scale.

On March 21, it is recommended by the Central Government that private laboratories shouldn’t charge their COVID-19 test more than Rs 4,500.

Private labs that have NABL authorization for real-time PCR SA for RNA virus are allowed to conduct tests for COVID-19, as stated in the guidelines of the Indian Council of Medical Research for COVID-19 testing in private labs.

The IIT team claims that their test will be much cheaper, thus will be more accessible to the general public. The team’s lead member, Professor Vivekanandan Perumal, said:

The test method from IIT researchers is “probe-free” which lowers the testing cost but doesn’t compromise the accuracy of the results.

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