The rise in the number of cases of COVID-19 in India is due to the rise in the number of tests that are happening and there have been several testing labs that came up with their own testing kits, sent to the ICMR for validation and approval.
Out of the 24 submitted kits, a total of six were found suitable for use, and one of them is from Hyderabad-based Huwel Life Sciences, with the testing kit named Quantiplus CoV detection kit ver2.0, and the batch no. QLCNV0620. It was approved by ICMR and the company is now all set to ramp up production in Telangana.
COVID-19 Test Kit developed by #Hyderabad based Huwel Life Sciences has received approval for commercial use from ICMR. It is one of the 6 kits approved of the total 24 kits and the company is all set to ramp up production in Telangana @KTRTRS @jayesh_ranjan pic.twitter.com/BejfcmzNTY
— Shakthi Nagappan (@ShakthiNagappan) April 10, 2020
There has been a huge requirement for the test kits in India and thus, several companies have started making them and trying to get approval for the making of these kits locally. The National Institute of Virology, Pune has validated the use of the Quantiplus Coronavirus detection kit, and the Principal Secretary Jayesh Ranjan has said that the solution offered by this company has been close to the actual testing kits being used right now.
Dr. Shesheer Kumar, director of the company has said that the kits will be made in-house. “We make enzymes of diagnostics of IVD quality. A lot of make it from Thermo and China. But we can quickly scale up”.
The Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) has been intimated about the batch numbers and the approved listed kits, and these certified kits can be used only after the marketing approval from DGCI. The other kits approved include RealStar SARS-COV-2 RT-PCR kit 1.0 from Altona Diagnostics, Patho Detect by MY LAB, TRUPCR Version 2 by KILPEST (Blackbio), Allplex 2019-ncov Assay by Seegene, and nCoV Real-time Detection Kit by SD Biosensor.
