The RT-PCR method of Covid-19 testing, developed by CSIR-CCMB, Hyderabad can now be adopted in testing labs of the country. CCMB has offered to train ICMR-approved government as well as private Covid-19 testing centres to help them adopt this method.

CCMB stated that this method is easier to carry out the procedures and can ramp up testing by 2-3 fold. Starting this week, it aims to train 50 testing centres online across India. Those in and around Hyderabad can also avail the physical training sessions by reaching out to the Director at CCMB.

Dr Rakesh Mishra, Advisor, CCMB said that this method needs no Viral Transport Medium for sending samples from sample collection centres to testing centres. This requires much lesser sample packing and no contamination between samples.

Also Read: Mancherial Private Hospitals Fleece COVID Patients: Report

"In this method, the RNA isolation steps have been replaced by a single-step addition of an easily available reagent. Extract from this step can be directly used for RT-PCR without compromising on the quality of results. These make the tests faster, cheaper, safer for the healthcare workers, and increase throughput with existing resources and setup." Rakesh Mishra said.

He added that the technology has been licensed to various healthcare companies such as Apollo Hospitals, Meril Life, Spice Health and Capital Health Pvt Ltd to manufacture and commercialize these testing kits. He expected many other industries will be coming soon to take part in this.