India’s first home-grown testing kit – OmiSure, which can detect the highly transmissible Omicron strain of the coronavirus, has already reached Odisha and its dry run is in progress.
Bijay Mohapatra, Health Services Director informed that the kits will first be used for the internal study. Subsequently, they will be dispatched to districts with a high number of Covid-19 cases.
It is justifiable to mention that Odisha State Medical Corporation Limited (OSMCL) had placed an order for 5 lakh testing kits with Tata Medical and Diagnostics Ltd (TATA MD)-the manufacturer of OmiSure.
Tata Medical and Diagnostics Ltd (Tata MD) has confirmed that the Government of Odisha is the first State in the country to order its OmiSure RT- PCR tests developed in partnership with ICMR.
There is Now there is need for genome sequencing of the sample which is a time taking process, as OmiSure kit specifically detects Omicron.
RT-PCR OmiSure is the only test approved by the ICMR for RT-PCR detection of the Omicron variant which targets 3 gene with a single tube, fully multiplexed assay in a unique design that identifies simultaneous S-gene Target Failure (SGTF) and S-Gene Mutation Amplification (SGMA).
Source: Agency
