In Assam, a rapid antigen test has been rolled out across the state today to detect Covid-19 cases. Earlier the test was conducted in Guwahati.

Talking to newspersons, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma appealed to cured persons to donate plasma. Mr. Sarma said that so far 1.1 lakh rapid antigen tests have been conducted in Guwahati city. The Minister said that overall Assam has conducted over 6 lakh tests.

In Assam, the Health department has started mass testing from the Pandu area in Guwahati. Health workers are visiting house to house to conduct the Covid-19 test from today and are expected to conduct 3000 tests in 2 days.

598 new cases were detected in Guwahati City yesterday. Assam has 4623 active cases as on date, for containment Jorhat Deputy Commissioner had announced total lockdown at Jorhat municipal area from 9th July to 15th July.

As per the “Test, Trace, Treat” strategy, the Central Government is driving enhanced testing initiatives in State/UTs. As a result, there has been a steady rise in the number of testing labs across the country. The increased testing is in accordance with the ICMR Guidelines and has helped in the early detection of cases.

The testing includes the RT-PCR which is the golden standard of the COVID-19 testing. This has been augmented with Rapid Antigen Point of Care (POC) Testing that gives results within a half-hour. This has resulted in ramped up testing in the Containment and Buffer Zones. This has significantly helped in controlling the spread of the infection.

All registered medical practitioners can now recommend testing. This coupled with the facilitation of widespread testing by States/UTs through the RT-PCR, TrueNat and CBNAAT lab network has contributed to a surge in the number of samples tested.

3,26,826 samples have been tested in the last 24 hours. The cumulative number of 1,27,39,490 samples tested translated to a figure of 9231.5 testings per million for India.

The testing lab network in the country is further strengthened with 1234 labs in the country; 874 labs in the government sector and 360 private labs. These include:

• Real-Time RT PCR based testing labs: 635 (Govt: 392 + Private: 243)

• TrueNat based testing labs: 499 (Govt: 447 + Private: 52)

• CBNAAT based testing labs: 100 (Govt: 35 + Private: 65)

Meanwhile, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and its 16 Research Institutes are working relentlessly to mitigate the COVID-19 crisis and are deeply engaged in multifaceted R & D for offering potential COVID-19 solutions.

Development of in-house diagnostic assays

DBT-AIs (Autonomous Institutions) have focussed their research efforts on the development of indigenous diagnostic tests to achieve self-sufficiency. 9

A low-cost colorimetric PCR based assay technology and an aptamer-based SARS-CoV-2antigen detection technology developed by DBT-THSTI were transferred to Genei and Molbio Diagnostics Pvt. Limited, respectively.
In-house IgG ELISA technology by DBT-THSTI was also transferred to XCyton Diagnostics Limited.
DBT-RGCB along with POCT services, New Delhi developed a low-cost viral transport medium and RNA extraction kit that is ready for commercial use.
To facilitate access to clinical and virus samples by researchers, startups and industry. Biorepositories established at DBT-THSTI, Faridabad, DBT-RCB, Faridabad, DBT-ILS, Bhubaneshwar, DBT-InStem, Bengaluru, DBT-NCCS, Pune and DBT facility at ILBS New Delhi are fully functional. Sharing of Biospecimens accelerates COVID-19 related research towards the development of kits, therapeutics and vaccines. DBT-THSTI have distributed over 2500 sample aliquots in response to requests from industry, start-ups and academia.