Project CARD to push local production of testing kits

News:Project Consortium for Affordable & Rapid Diagnostics(CARD) has been 

launched by Niti Aayog and the Department of Biotechnology.

Facts:

  • Aim:To scale up India’s capacity to make coronavirus testing kits by rolling out at least 10 million rapid antibody tests by July,2020 and additionally other tests for Covid-19.

Additional Facts:

Rapid Test:

  • It is a speedy test conducted to determine whether there has been any kind of recent viral infection in a person’s body.
  • When a pathogen enters a human body, specific antibodies are released as a response to the virus.A rapid test can detect the presence of such antibodies in blood, serum or plasma samples quickly indicating a viral infection.