In a major development, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has now approved an RT-PCR kit to detect the Omicron variant of the COVID-19. The newly approved testing kit is expected to detect the presence of the new variant of the coronavirus in patients.
The RT-PCR kit, Omisure, was earlier sent to the ICMR for approval after continued testing.
An approval letter by ICMR dated December 30, 2021, said: “The tests have been performed as per the manufacturer’s instructions. Responsibility for batch-to-batch consistency lies with the manufacturer. “
The kit comes as a major aid as analysing the Omicron variant have been an issue among medical experts. Since the Omicron variant underwent several mutations in the S-gene, the SGTF strategy checks and indicates it in patients who are detected COVID positive.
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However, the kit is expected to be more expensive compared to regular test kits owing to its increased research and development in technology.
Earlier on December 17, the ICMR had invited pharma companies to submit an Expression of Interest (EoI) to commercialise diagnostic kits developed for the detection of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, India registered another spike in daily Omicron cases. The country’s tally for the highly transmissible strain was recorded at 1,892 cases out of which 766 have already recovered. State-wise Maharashtra with 568 leads the pack followed by Delhi with 382 omicron cases.
Also, India’s daily covid positivity rate has reached 3.24%. The country clocked 37,379 fresh COVID cases, 11,007 recoveries, and 124 deaths in the last 24 hours.
(With inputs from agencies)
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