IIT-Kgp's test kit set for mass production
Times of India (April 7, 2021)
Kolkata: IIT-Kharagpur has come up with a Covid testing kit, complete with a machine that will bring down the cost of each diagnosis to anything between Rs 100 and Rs 150. You will get to know your test result in 45 minutes flat. Covirap, as the kit has been christened, is going in for mass production by the end of the month.
Two faculty members, Suman Chakraborty and Arindam Mondal, have received an international patent for Covirap. They are in the process of going in for technology transfer and are tying up with a global pharmaceutical company that will help in mass production. The institute will announce the name of the company soon.
Covirap, like the RT-PCR, is a nucleic acid-based test but is done in a rapid format, without the use of a hi-tech lab but with the help of a highly efficient machine. Faculty members said that they had been able to bring over 95% accuracy. Since the use of the lab and other paraphernalia have been reduced, the test can be done at a nominal cost and can be used for community testing. (Access the original article)
**We ran two earlier stories about the Covirap test kit. They can be accessed below:
IIT Kharagpur Researchers Develop Novel Technology for COVID-19 Rapid Test