India and Israel are working together to develop a rapid testing kit for COVID-19 which can give the result within 30 seconds. Trials are conducted in Delhi on a large sampling of patients for four different technologies with the potential to rapidly detect COVID-19. The new testing process is said to make use of Artificial Intelligence and machine learning.
Who are involved in the project?
Indian and Israeli defence scientists and experts are jointly working on the project to develop the rapid testing kit. The Israeli defence ministry research and development team is working with India’s chief scientist K. Vijay Raghavan and the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) to determine the effectiveness of the rapid diagnostic technologies.
What are the diagnostic technologies being developed?
They are a breath analyzer, a thermal test, a polyamino acid test and a voice test. The breath analyser requires a person to blow into a sterile tube, after which a high frequency scan is used to analyse the presence of the virus in less than a minute. The thermal test requires a saliva swab and has the potential to be used at home. The polyamino acid test enables detection of coronavirus proteins in a saliva sample in 45 seconds. The voice or audio recording test which can be downloaded and used as a mobile phone app analyses the changes in a person’s voice to detect COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases.
Where are the trials held in India?
The trials which began on July 28 re conducted under the guidance of the Israeli delegation at six locations in Delhi – Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Lok Nayak Hospital, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, the DRDO office in Rohini, Akash Hospital and Lady Hardinge Hospital. The data collected in Delhi, along with the samples collected in Israel, will assist in developing and validating the technologies used.
What is the way forward?
The new technologies on rapid tests, if found to be successful, will be manufactured in India and marketed by India and Israel to the world. It is said that they will be made available to the masses at low rates and help achieve higher accuracy rates than the current PCR test. It’s hoped that the joint efforts could bring “good news” to the world within a few months. Since the outbreak of the global pandemic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu have had telephonic conversations in which they promised mutual assistance in dealing with the virus and committed to joint technological and scientific research between the two countries.
What is the existing method of testing?
Currently, the COVID-19 testing is done through a laboratory technique called polymerase chain reaction (PCR), in which a machine reproduces viral genetic material (DNA or RNA) by copying it over and over again so any trace of the SARS-CoV-2 virus can be detected. It requires highly trained staff and takes at least a few hours to get the final results.
Picture Credit : Google