News: Indian Institute of Technology(IIT) Kharagpur has launched a Covid-19 test called ‘COVIRAP’.
Facts:
- COVIRAP: It is a cuboid-shaped portable testing device that can deliver results in an hour making it an effective tool to scale up Covid-19 screening in peripheral and rural areas.
- Benefits of COVIRAP:
- Economical: It is a cheaper and quicker process when compared to RT-PCR test (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction).
- Easier to Handle:The test unit can be handled by unskilled operators outside the lab environment.
- High Accuracy: It correctly detected 108 out of the 115 positive samples identified by an RT-PCR machine meaning that it has a 94% sensitivity and 98% specificity in comparison to RT-PCR (i.e lower than RT-PCR).
Additional Facts:
- RT-PCR: It is the most commonly used one for Covid-19.It is primarily based on Polymerase chain reaction(PCR), a process that repeatedly copies and amplifies the specific genetic fragments of the virus ensuring that there is enough of a sample to conduct the analysis.
- Feluda: It is a low cost paper strip test developed by CSIR’s Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology(IGIB) which can detect the presence of coronavirus within an hour.
- It uses the gene editing tool CRISPR-CAS9 to target and identify the genome sequences of the novel coronavirus in the samples of suspected individuals.
- Corosure: It is a low-cost RT-PCR Covid-19 test kit developed by IIT Delhi.
