DIPCOVAN
GS PAPER III: Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life.
Context: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), in collaboration with a company, developed an antibody detection kit for spotting SARS-CoV-2 virus with a high sensitivity of 97% and specificity of 99%.
DIPCOVAN kit:
- It was developed indigenously by the scientists, followed by extensive validation on more than 1,000 patient samples at various COVID designated hospitals in Delhi.
- It received the regulatory approval of the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, for manufacture, sale and distribution.
- DIPCOVAN was intended for the qualitative detection of IgG antibodies in human serum or plasma, targeting SARS-CoV-2 related antigens and offering a significantly faster turnaround time as it required just 75 minutes to conduct the test without any cross-reactivity with other diseases.
- The kit has a shelf life of 18 months.
- The kit would be very useful for understanding COVID‐19 epidemiology and assessing an individual's previous SARS‐CoV‐2 exposure.
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