HRD Minister felicitates IIT Delhi's team for developing affordable test for COVID-19

Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' on Friday felicitated a team of scientists from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, for developing an affordable test for COVID-19.

A method to detect coronavirus developed by IIT which will significantly reduce the cost of testing, making it affordable for a large population in the country, got approval from the ICMR on Thursday.

IIT Delhi is the first academic institute to have obtained the ICMR approval for a real-time PCR-based diagnostic assay. The development also comes against the backdrop of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) halting the testing for COVID-19 cases through China-made test kits because of massive variation in test results, compounding the challenge to check and contain the pandemic.

The current testing methods available are "probe-based" while the one developed by the IIT team is a "probe-free" method, which reduces the testing cost without compromising on accuracy.

"I am proud that premiere institutions have came to the forefront and have done a commendable work and are contributing their best in order to combat the situation arising of COVID-19. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also said that we should develop our own strengths and we should not be dependent on the world," Nishank said.

"Keeping in view the capability and high standards of research of our institutes, especially IITs, meetings were held with IITs from the very beginning of the onset of pandemic, to step up their research and innovation initiatives with respect to COVID-19," he added.

The minister said the kit will not only empower healthcare services but also support the government in the time of crisis.

"This assay can be easily scaled up as it does not require fluorescent probes. The team is targeting large-scale deployment of the kit at affordable prices with suitable industrial partners as soon as possible," IIT Delhi Director V Ramgopal Rao said.

The research team includes PhD scholars Prashant Pradhan, Ashutosh Pandey and Praveen Tripathi, post-doctoral fellows Drs Parul Gupta and Akhilesh Mishra and professors Vivekanandan Perumal, Manoj B Menon, James Gomes and Bishwajit Kundu.