Bhubaneswar: Odisha has received TATA MD check OmiSure RT- PCR test kits, which it had ordered earlier this month for detecting the presence of Omicron in samples of people testing COVID-19 positive.
Speaking to the media, Health Services Director Bijay Mohapatra said that the dry run is in progress. “It will be first used for internal study and the kits will then be dispatched to districts reporting a higher number of cases,” he said.
The state has procured 30,000 OmiSure kits in the first phase. Kits have reached, and will be used primarily in four cities – Berhampur, Cuttack, Rourkela and Bhubaneswar, the Health Department sources said.
Notably, the Odisha government had placed an order for 5 lakh such kits developed by the Mumbai-based Tata Medical and Diagnostics Ltd (TATA MD) in partnership with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
Also Read: Odisha Becomes First State To Order OmiSure RT-PCR Test Kits; Check Details
The company on January 10 said that Odisha was the first state in the country to order its kits, which can detect the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV2 in four hours during the RT-PCR tests.
Odisha has so far reported 202 Omicron cases.
Till January 18, Sundargarh had recorded the highest test positivity rate of 36.1 per cent, followed by Khurda at 31.1 per cent. 25 districts are in the RED zone with TPR above 7.5 per cent.
In terms of active cases, Khurda, Sundargarh, Cuttack, Sambalpur and Balasore were in the RED zone with 29745, 10554, 5934, 3498, 3227 cases respectively till January 19.
