NEERI develops new Covid-19 RT-PCR test can give result in 3 hours

NEERI scientist count on this testing method to be useful for rural and tribal areas the place infrastructure necessities are a constraint and skilled lab technicians weren’t accessible.

The Nationwide Environmental Engineering Analysis Institute (NEERI) has developed a Saline Gargle RT-PCR Covid-19 testing methodology that does away with swabs and provides leads to three hours.

The Indian Council of Medical Analysis (ICMR) has authorized the brand new testing methodology final week and requested NEERI to coach lab technicians and scale up its adoption throughout the nation.

Krishna Khairnar, senior scientist, environmental virology cell with the Nagpur-based NEERI, mentioned this check was suited to rural and tribal areas because it had minimal infrastructure necessities.

NEERI scientist count on this testing method to be useful for rural and tribal areas the place infrastructure necessities are a constraint and skilled lab technicians weren’t accessible.

The Saline Gargle RT-PCR methodology is on the spot, comfy and patient-friendly. The sampling could be executed by the affected person and outcomes generated inside three hours, Khairnar mentioned. This methodology of gathering and processing the pattern saves prices and does away with the RNA extraction infrastructure requirement, he mentioned.

“Assortment strategies like nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swab assortment require technical experience. They’re additionally time-consuming. In distinction, the Saline Gargle RT-PCR methodology makes use of a easy assortment tube crammed with saline answer. The affected person gargles the answer and rinses it contained in the tube. This pattern within the assortment tube is taken to the laboratory the place it’s stored at room temperature, in a particular buffer answer ready by NEERI. An RNA template is produced when this answer is heated, which is additional processed for RT-PCR,” Khiarnar mentioned.

The Nagpur Municipal Company has already given permission to go forward with this testing methodology amid surging Covid-19 infections within the Vidarbha area of Maharashtra.