IIT Hyderabad Develops 20-Minute COVID Detection Kit, May Cost Rs 350

Hyderabad: Researchers at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad claim to have developed a first-of-its kind COVID-19 test kit that can deliver results within 20 minutes.

This test is not based on the Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR), the method currently used for coronavirus testing.

The kit costs Rs 550 but can be reduced to Rs 350 if there is mass production.

Clinical trials have been conducted at ESIC Medical College and Hospital in Hyderabad, and approval has been sought from the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR).

“We have developed a COVID-19 testing kit which can deliver the result in 20 minutes for symptomatic and asymptomatic patients. The uniqueness of this test kit is that it functions sans the Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR),” IIT Hyderabad’s Electrical Engineering department professor Shiv Govind Singh told PTI.

The kit is easy to carry around and can be used as an alternative to the currently used method. The team claims to have identified a unique sequence of conserved regions of COVID-19 genome.

IIT Delhi was the first academic institution to obtain ICMR approval for a real-time PCR-based diagnostic kit.

India is currently the sixth worst-hit country affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with a total of 2.37 lakh cases.