Summary :
At-home antigen kit demand surged in Maharashtra in December and early January following a five-fold spike in the state’s Covid-19 cases.
Mylab Discovery Solutions has announced the launch of CoviSwift for Covid-19 test following regulatory approval. The kit is the first point-of-care testing solution for small labs, airports, and in-hospital labs. CoviSwift is driven by the RT-PCR gold standard technology compared to the CoviSelf rapid antigen home testing kit. MyLab Discovery Solutions is expected to make the test kit available by early February, The Indian Express reported.
Covid-19
The solution includes the CoviSwift assay and Compact-Q machines that can process 16 samples in 40 minutes — four times faster than the traditional RT-PCR method while maintaining the gold standard accuracy.
Mylab Discovery Solutions Managing Director Hasmukh Rawal said as a point-of-care solution, the kit would enable small labs and collection centres to conduct Covid-19 tests. This could lead to an increase in India’s testing capacity from 3,000 labs to 60,000 labs.
Rawal said the solution had solved many age-old problems in RT-PCR testing. He added RT-PCR test components needed to be stored and transported at -20°C at all times, while CoviSwift samples could be stored and transported at room temperature. This enables RT-PCR testing to reach small towns and villages that do not have cold chain facilities or continuous electricity.
The company has applied for several patents on underlying technologies and Rawal believes that the solution would change the face of molecular diagnostics for years.
CoviSwift could also reduce the demand for home Covid-19 test kits, which had witnessed a surge in demand at the onset of the pandemic’s third wave, leading to concern in the Maharashtra Health Department over lack of reporting of positive cases. The issue was also flagged by the national task force on Covid-19.
At-home antigen kit demand surged in Maharashtra in December and early January following a five-fold spike in the state’s Covid-19 cases. MyLab Discovery Solutions Director Sujit Jain had told The Indian Express at the time that demand for CoviSelf had risen nearly 200% during the third wave.