New Delhi: The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Thursday said that it has validated a completely indigenous diagnostic platform for COVID-19 diagnosis.
The apex medical research body in the country said the platform offers a reliable and affordable option to augment the SARS-CoV-2 testing capacity in India.
In a press statement, ICMR said "This fully indigenous diagnostic platform offers a reliable and affordable option to augment the SARS-CoV-2 testing capacity in India. The platform comprises a TrueNat machine, inbuilt RNA extraction system, RT-PCR chips, collection swabs and viral lysis medium (VLM)."
"Single assay has a turnaround time of 35-50 minutes for 1-4 samples with a total of 12-48 samples being tested per day, depending upon the type of machine. It also added that the biosafety and biosecurity requirements are minimal in view of the sample being collected in viral lysis medium (VLM), which inactivates the virus. The test can be used at the level of district hospitals and primary health centres also."
Read:ICMR releases revised guidelines for COVID-19 testing
ICMR has now recommended the TrueNat COVID-19 test as a two-step test: step one i.e. E gene screening assay for all COVID-19 suspect samples to be followed by step two for the RdRp based confirmatory test in all E gene positives.
As the COVID-19 pandemic is expanding, there is a global shortfall of diagnostic supplies.
It is critical for countries to strengthen indigenous production of diagnostic material to ensure uninterrupted availability.
During the initial few weeks of the pandemic, it was a huge challenge to access and stockpile diagnostic commodities to meet National.
Indigenous diagnostic assays were prioritized to reduce dependence on other countries.