A paper-based test strip to detect coronavirus in less than 30 minutes has been approved for commercial launch by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI. It has been developed by a research team led by Debojyoti Chakraborty and Souvik Maiti of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Tata Group. The accurate and low-cost test has been named ‘Feluda’ - a fictional private detective from West Bengal created by renowned writer and filmmaker Satyajit Ray. The development comes at a time when India has been conducting an average of 10 lakh tests daily. ‘Feluda’ test costs just about Rs 500 while the RT-PCR test now costs anywhere between Rs 1,600 to Rs 2,000. Antibody tests, which can give results in 20-30 minutes, costs between Rs 500 and Rs 600. A rapid antigen test kit, which interprets a positive or negative test in 30 minutes, costs Rs 450. TruNat test provides results within 60 minutes and a kit comes for about Rs 1,300.
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