ICMR's Made In India 'ELISA' Antibody Test Can Check 90 People For COVID-19 At Once

India up till now has been dependent on the test materials imported from other countries around the world for different kinds of diagnostic tests for COVID-19.?

However, India has been working on indigenous diagnostic tests to reduce reliance on global players.

Reuters

The Indian Council of Medical Research and National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune, has developed as well as cleared the use of lgG ELISA Test, which ICMR is calling ‘COVID Kavach Elisa’ for detection of antibodies for COVID-19.

What does ELISA do?

ELISA is an antibody test. While researchers have been relying on RT-PCR tests for detecting COVID-19, the need has arisen for antibody tests.?

While the RT-PCR test detects the RNA of the coronavirus and enables detection of current infection, it isn’t useful if the testing is conducted days after the infection clears as the virus will no longer be present.?

Reuters

However, antibodies developed to fight the novel coronavirus infection will be present in the blood for a longer duration and hence the ELISA test can help detect past infection.

Antibody tests basically help us in identifying immunity that a patient infected with COVID-19 has developed over time, to keep them safe from the coronavirus in the near future.

ELISA is loaded to the teeth

The scientists at ICMR-NIV, Pune have worked to develop and validate the completely indigenous IgG ELISA test for antibody detection for SARS-CoV-2. The test was validated at two sites in Mumbai and has been found to have high sensitivity and specificity.?

Moreover, the test is capable of testing 90 samples together in a matter of two and a half hours.

Reuters

What’s really cool about the test is that it can be conducted at a district level with ease as the kit has inactivated virus, so it is not dangerous. Also, there are less bio-safety concerns than RT-PCR tests.

Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, said in a statement, “The robust indigenous IgG ELISA test for antibody detection developed by ICMR-NIV, Pune will play a critical role in surveillance of proportion of population exposed to SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus infection.”

ICMR has teamed up with Zydus Cadila for mass-scale production of ELISA test kits?