India’s first Covid-19 self-testing kit
- Approved by ICMR, "Mylab Coviself" allows anyone to collect their own nasal sample and test it for SARS-CoV-2.
- It uses a rapid antigen test and gives results within 15 minutes.
- This testing kit cost Rs 250, while RT-PCR test costs between Rs 400 to Rs 1,500 and a rapid antigen test costs Rs 300-900 in different states.
- It is developed by a Pune-based molecular company, MyLab Discovery Solutions.
- It takes hardly two minutes to take a test.
- This easy-to-use test combines with MyLab’s AI-powered mobile app so that a user can know his/her positive status, submit the result to ICMR directly for traceability, and know what to do next in either result.
- These can cut queues in laboratories, reduce costs, dissipate the burden on existing manpower for a sample collection from homes, and provide quick results, leading to prompt treatment and isolation.
- Such a self-test kit was first approved in the US last November, followed by Europe and South Korea.