Today, our whole country has gone under a lockdown amidst concerns over COVID-19. And we all have been worried whether we¡¯ve actually contracted the novel coronavirus.?
We¡¯ve been struggling to find testing centres who can conduct COVID-19 tests instantly and deliver results in time to start with the treatment.?
As of now, India National Institute of Virology has only validated?CoSara Diagnostics Pvt Ltd in Ahmedabad to manufacture coronavirus test kits from the Central Drugs Standards Control Organisation (CDSCO). The company is a joint venture between Co-Diagnostics Inc of Utah, USA, and Ambalal Sarabhai Enterprises of India.
However, now, a Pune-based molecular diagnostic company dubbed Mylab has joined the list to have received such validation.
The COVID-19 test is dubbed Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction or RT-PCR. Conventional lab tests used to take somewhere around four hours for the results of the test. However, Mylab¡¯s novel methodology slashes this down to just two and a half hours, according to Gautam Wankhede, Medical Director of Mylab in a conversation with ET.
The Indian Council of Medical Research as of now has limited the testing only for patients with travel history to suspected locations as well as some suspected COVID-19 cases. India is testing 15 people in the population of a million.?
The government¡¯s research body has been wanting to expand its testing facilities. But the testing cannot commence without getting the reagents or testing kits that are critical to the whole process.
According to Mylabs, they can make up to one lakh tests in a week, with prospects of scaling it even further, should a need arise. The company's kits can study 1000 samples from large labs and 200 from smaller labs and is looking to price its kit starting around Rs 1,200.
Today, COVID-19 has infected over 300,000 people and claimed over 14,000 lives. India today has 446 active COVID-19 cases with 9 deaths in total.