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University of Mysore (UoM) has partnered with Hyderabad-based Lorven Biologics to develop a new advanced rapid Covid-19 detection kit.
The kit, a breakthrough by the scientists at the university, claims an accuracy rate as high as above 90 per cent.
Announcing the university’s achievement on Monday, Prof K S Rangappa, former Vice-Chancellor of UoM, said, “Advanced technologies related to molecular biology, nanotechnology and artificial intelligence (AI) have been used to develop the kit.”
“The salient features of the new kit is that any person suspected of Covid symptoms can use this kit to test the virus in body fluids including sputum nasal secretions and saliva. The unique feature of this kit is that a barcode strip will be connected with an app. As soon as the barcode is scanned, the patient’s health status (positive/negative) is updated in the server, which enables the governing agency to monitor Covid positive cases rapidly,” he added.
Talking about the current practice, he said, "Currently doctors are dependent on RAT and RT-PCR testing methods for the diagnosis of Covid-19 and few companies have developed rapid detection kits. The existing rapid detection methods offer only 60-90 percent accuracy. While our kit can overcome the limitations associated with the existing strategies.”
Prof Rangappa maintained that the kit is developed as per the Prime Minister’s ‘Make in India’ and ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ concepts. “they (new kit) will be sent to Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) for emergency approval. For that we are in talks with the manufacturer to keep the price as low as ₹100 per kit. The kit can be used in households,” he explained.
He further said that Dr Venkataramana, Director of Lorven Biologics, Hyderabad, was instrumental in making the kit by providing necessary scientific and logistical support.
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