This RT-PCR Kit Can Give COVID-19 Results In Two Hours

New Delhi: The Indian Council Of Medical Research (ICMR) has technically validated for satisfactory performance, an RT-PCR kit developed by Reliance Life Sciences. It promises diagnosis of COVID-19 infection in about 2 hours, company sources were quoted as saying by The New Indian Express (TNIE).

At present, the COVID-19 RT-PCR test, takes up to 24 hours to give a diagnosis.

TNIE quoted sources as saying that computational biologists at Reliance Life Sciences, a subsidiary of Mukesh Ambani-run Reliance Industries Ltd, analysed more than 100 genomes of SARS-CoV-2 sequenced in India and designed unique RT-PCR primers for developing quantitative-Real Time PCR (RT-PCR) kit for COVID-19 detection.

The Gold standard RT-PCR kit is named R-Green Kit (SARS COV2-real-time PCR).

ICMR’s validation process does not approve/disapprove the kit design as well as it does not certify user-friendliness, the report added.

The kit shows 98.7 per cent sensitivity and 98.8 per cent specificity is simple to use and uses readily available simple reagents and primers which can be synthesised in India.