Mumbai: New Covid Diagnostic Test, including promising diagnosis in a minute, will be launched next week, pointing to the sea change in detection technology for the past 35 months in the country.
While Multinational Abbott will launch a new fast test, Mumbai-based company, Medicircle Health Pvt Ltd, will bring Israeli technology to detect the SARS-COV-2-2 Covid-19 virus which causes saliva or water to rinse in seconds.
The Indian Medical Research Council (ICMR) and the National Virology Institute have also transferred their new technology – called RT-LAMP – which allows RT-PCR tests to be carried out in three hours compared to four to six ordinary hours.
Dr.
Nilesh Shah, Head of Science and Innovation, Metropolis Laboratory, said the diagnostic Covid-19 has changed very large in 15 to 16 months.
“The RPCR test remains a gold standard, but has also evolved in terms of time, labor and incubation periods,” he said.
The new RT-PCR test can provide results in a matter of five minutes even though they bring premium charges of up to 4,500 rs.
However, with several countries such as the UAE demanding a RT-PC report taken four hours before going up, RT-PCR that quickly has a taker.
However, RT-PCR tests, because their large infrastructure and investment requirements cannot be used for mass testing easily.
This is where a fast “care point” test that can provide a test in less than 15 minutes is useful.
Pranaav Kolhi from Medi-Circle’s health said their new test not only gave results in less than a minute, the results were transferred to the Covid ICMR portal instantly.
“There are no questions about positive tests, done using a fast antigen method or home based test, not registered,” he added.
This will help track cases and implement public health steps to check any spread.
A pilot study conducted in Delhi among 207 samples showed that this test had a sensitivity of 93.5%.
“Because this is a point of care technology, it can be used for bulk screening at airports, resorts, offices, malls, etc.,” Kohli added.
Israeli tests work on the principle that when infected by viruses, the body produces chemicals that emit a certain wavelength.
“When samples from patients are inserted into our handheld devices, the spectrum is generated, providing instant analysis,” said press release.