DRAP okays 20-minute Covid test kit

Regulator’s CEO says the new tech will cost Rs2,000

ISLAMABAD:

The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) has given the nod to a coronavirus test kit that can make a preliminary diagnosis of the disease in 20 minutes.

Confirming the development, Drap CEO Dr Asim Rauf said the rapid test kit had been patented by a company abroad. A foreign pharmaceutical firm would import the kits to Pakistan.

“The test will initially cost Rs2,000,” he added.

The rapid test will be conducted using a nasal swab. The kits will used by trained experts. The result of the test will be compared with the patient’s symptoms and clinical history. However, the result of the test will not be used for coronavirus screening.

“The registration of the rapid test kit is major step towards the early detection of the disease,” Dr Rauf said.’

A few days ago, the US’ Food and Drug Administration authorised a California-based biotechnology company’s single-use home test kit, which in in 30 minutes or less can detect whether a person is positive or negative for the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Unlike rapid antigen tests, which experts say can be unreliable, the kit uses genetic material in a method similar to the laboratory tests that have become the standard for detecting the virus.

After swirling the nasal specimen into a solution, home-testers plug the vial into a portable, battery-operated device, which uses a light to indicate the test result within 30 minutes. A positive test result can be generated in 11 minutes.

According to a new study, testing half the population weekly with inexpensive, rapid-turnaround Covid-19 tests will drive the virus toward elimination within weeks—even if those tests are significantly less sensitive than the standard clinical tests.

Drap also recently granted approval to "Cov-raid", a locally developed software capable of “detecting the novel coronavirus in a person's lungs within a minute".

Cov-raid (Rapid Artificial Intelligence Detection), developed by the National Electronics Complex of Pakistan, requires a chest X-Ray image as an input for the detection of Covid-19.

It will “employ Convolutional Neural Networks” to diagnose Covid-19 in suspected individuals by using X-rays and it has been approved for "secondary detection" of the virus.

According to the Cov-Raid website, the artificial intelligence software has been developed by creating a data repository of chest X-rays for Covid-19 detection.