National Institute of Virology, Pune has successfully developed the 1st indigenous anti-SARS-CoV-2 human IgG ELISA test kit for antibody detection of COVID-19 .While real-time RT-PCR is the frontline test for clinical diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2, robust antibody tests are critical for surveillance to understand the proportion of the population exposed to infection.

Taking on to twitter, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said ,"This robust test will play a critical role in surveillance of proportion of population exposed to SARSCoV2 infection."

This antibody detection kit can test over 90 samples together in one go in just 2.5 hours thus making the detection of Coronavirus infection easier and much faster. 

The test kit's performance was validated at two sites in Mumbai and has been found to have high sensitivity and accuracy. Furthermore, the technology has been transferred to Indian pharmaceutical giant Zydus Cadila to ensure mass production of the same. The Drug Controller General has granted commercial production and marketing permission to the company.

Recently Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)  cancelled orders for over half a million rapid antibody test kits from China after those were found to be delivering inaccurate results at twice the price of normal testing kits.

Meanwhile, Chennai on Sunday recorded its biggest daily increase in Covid-19 cases so far as 509 new infections were reported. The case tally from the city accounted for 76 per cent of all cases in Tamil Nadu, which recorded 669 new cases and three deaths in hospitals.

On the other hand, with 381 new cases reported in a day, the total count of COVID-19 cases in Delhi reached to 6,923 on Sunday. According to the state's health department, five new deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 73.

At least 49 patients recovered, according to the Delhi Health Bulletin released on Sunday. "The data was compiled from 12 a.m. of May 8 to 12 a.m. of May 9," said the health department.

Meanwhile ,a top world health official has warned that countries are essentially driving blind in reopening their economies without setting up strong contact tracing to beat back flare-ups of the coronavirus.

The warning came as France and Belgium emerged from lockdowns, the Netherlands sent children back to school, and a number of US states continued to lift their business restrictions.

Fears of infection spikes in places that have loosened up have been borne out in recent days in Germany, where new clusters were linked to three slaughterhouses; in Wuhan, the Chinese city where the crisis started; and in South Korea, where one nightclub customer was linked to 85 new cases.

Authorities have warned that the scourge could come back with a vengeance without widespread testing and tracing of infected people's contacts.

The World Health Organization's emergencies chief, Dr Michael Ryan, said that robust contact tracing measures adopted by Germany and South Korea provide hope that those countries can detect and stop virus clusters before they get out of control.

Story Input:IndiaTvnews.com