New Omicron test kit to give results in 2 hrs

Assam scholars design hydrolysis probe-based RT-PCR assay

In a significant breakthrough, research scholars of the Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR) Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC) at Dibrugarh in Assam have developed a testing kit that can detect the new Covid-19 variant Omicron in just two hours.

Informing that the ICMR Dibrugarh was working on this kit since November 24, the team led by senior scientist Dr Biswajyoti Borkakoty said, “ICMR-RMRC Dibrugarh has designed and developed a hydrolysis probe-based realtime RT-PCR assay for detection of the new Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) within 2 hours.”

He said, “The kit is tested against specific synthetic gene fragments of Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 within two different highly specific unique regions of the spike protein and also reference wild type control synthetic gene fragments.”

This can come as handy for travellers who have been struggling due to the increased wait time for test reports at the airports after fresh restrictions were brought in place to check the spread of the new variant.

The team of research scholars have tested and scanned

this kit with over 1,000 samples of Covid-19 patients, including some from other states who have been detected with Omicron.

The ICMR Dibrugarh has started licensing process of this test kit, and it is expected to be available for the lab from next week. The kit developed by ICMR-RMRC Dibrugarh is now being produced on a bulk basis by a 100 per cent made in India, Kolkata-based Company, GCC biotech on a public-private partnership (PPP) model.

The test kit is to be used in labs that have an RT-PCR facility and it is not an on-site test kit like anti-gen test kits.