The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Thursday approved a novel RT-qPCR test kit by Chennai- based KRIYA Medical technologies that can detect influenza (H1N1, H3N2, Yamagata and Victoria sublineages), Covid-19, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
The approval of the kit marketed as KRIVIDA Trivus comes even as several parts of the country are facing a significant rise in these viruses.
The three pathogens have similar initial symptoms but differ in how the illness progresses, how easily they spread, and how they are treated.
The KRIVIDA Trivus effectively distin- guishes influenza, SARS-CoV-2 and res- piratory syncytial virus, within the shortest TAT (turnaround time), — cycle time of 27 minutes, and the time taken for the result to be read can vary between 50-60 minutes.
This can enable an immediate line of treatment, the company said in a statement.
The kit can also be used in all the avail- able RT-PCR equipment.
The ICMR evaluated the kit at National Institute of Virology, Pune, using 225 known positive samples and 85 nega- tive samples.
The overall sensitivity of KRIVIDA Trivus is 99.11 per cent and specificity is 100 per cent.