Pune institute seeks spl kits to cut Testing time by half

The National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune has sought special medical kits from abroad to shorten the time of testing of coronavirus.

The National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune has sought special medical kits from abroad to shorten the time of testing of coronavirus.

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Though the state has not revealed the details of procurement, a senior doctor from the state surveillance department said this was part of an effort to reduce the time taken to diagnose the coronavirus.

“Currently, diagnosis takes around seven to eight hours. With this new probe, we can bring down that time to at least three to four hours. This would help us to provide reports faster in case it spreads to other parts of the country,” said the doctor.

At present, nasal and throat swabs are used as samples which are sent NIV.

There, the samples are put through a series of tests, for diseases like swine flu and seasonal influenza, before being tested for coronavirus.

Nationally, specimens of suspected Covid-19 patients are tested at the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in Delhi; Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)’s laboratories at Alappuzha, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai; and the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune.

All these labs are work under the guidance of NIV. Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan has stated there are 19 such centres across the country.