IISc Builds COVID-19 Testing Van That Gives 100% Accuracy In Just 4 Hours
One of the major challenges that we face is testing more people every day, but this van can help solve that problem.
Our nation is striving hard to take down the novel coronavirus. And while we¡¯re seeing cities slowly unlock and lives coming slowly to normal, COVID-19 still stands strong.
Reuters
One of the major challenges that we face is testing more people every day. The more we test, the more authorities will know the severity of the situation. But lack of available infrastructure and testing kits have always been a constant challenge.
However, to combat this challenge, researchers from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have developed a mobile COVID-19 laboratory that can test people for the novel coronavirus on the go.
Reported first by ET, the mobile testing unit was inaugurated by Karnataka Medical Education Minister, Dr K Sudhakar and in his words, it is the first ICMR approved mobile RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) COVID-19 testing facility in India.
IISc
He also claims that the mobile testing unit is capable of testing around 9,000 individuals in a month. It is also capable of delivering 100 percent accurate results in just a matter of four hours as claimed by Sudhakar.
The minister further said in a statement, ¡°The mobile lab can also be used for molecular diagnostic-testing and can be deployed in coronavirus hot spots quickly.. that apart from COVID-19, the lab can be utilised for testing H1N1 (swine flu), HCV (Hepatitis C), TB (Tuberculosis), HPV (Human papillomavirus) and HIV among others,¡±
The mobile lab, called MITR or Mobile Infection Testing and Reporting by IISc has been given to Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
Representational Image: Reuters
Surprisingly, this isn¡¯t the first mobile testing unit for COVID-19. In June, we saw Union Minister Harsh Vardhan launch a similar mobile laboratory for coronavirus testing called I-Lab.
The mobile testing unit is capable of running 50 RT-PCR and about 200 ELISA tests in a day. A double set of machines can help increase the capacity to about 500 tests per day in an 8 hours shift, according to Vardhan.
