New Delhi: Even after three months, COVID-19 contagion remains prevalent across the nation. The authorities are trying to find ways to stop their rapid spread. This crisis has created a lot of fear in people’s mind. But now people will be able to test themselves for COVID-19 at home soon. IIT Delhi and National Chemical Laboratory in Pune are researching on it. This test is going to be accurate. The research is being conducted under the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) with financial support from Microsoft India.
According to the team working on this, the research will lead to the development of a kit called ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Serological Assay). If successful, it will be effecting in preventing infection. Efforts are underway to make the tested reality in the coming months. The kit will be available for around Rs 500. Work is underway in a laboratory in Andhra Pradesh to prepare it.
Anurag Rathod, Professor of Chemical Engineering in IIT, Delhi said, “Testing the coronavirus while fighting it is also a challenge. Coronavirus is currently diagnosed using a real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test. This test is only possible in the laboratory. It also takes several hours. So we are developing a test that can be done easily at home.”
The number of total active cases in India surge to 5,49,197 with more than 16,000 deaths and 3, 21,774 recovered from it. Maharashtra remains worst-hit state due to the contagion with 1, 59,000 active cases.
