With India crossing 700 coronavirus cases, now, the country is all set to start antibody tests to check if a person had previously been infected with the virus. This move is expected to help the country understand the epidemic.
The test is known as serological test and it looks for antibodies in the blood. This test is different from the diagnostic tests that determine the infection by nasal or throat swabs. The serological test will allow doctors to confirm if the patient has previously had the virus.
Randeep Guleria, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) speaking to Economic Times, said that the test is not confirmatory and it is for surveillance to generate data and check if people got exposed to the virus.
Guleria is the Chairman of the high-level expert committee that has been formed to review the testing strategy of the virus by ICMR.
Earlier, on Wednesday, ICMR had invited bids for the antibody kit to diagnose CoVid-19.
The tests that have been done random samples suggest that there is no community transmission so far in India and with the help of serological tests, the researchers will be able to understand the behaviour of the virus.
ICMR officials have said that these tests can be done on a mass scale at an affordable price.
However, the health officials said that the tests won't always pick up early infections but are capable to tell if a person ever had the virus earlier.
Now, the ICMR officials are mulling if these tests should be conducted on people who have come in contact with people who have already tested positive for coronavirus.
For carrying this out successfully, ICMR will require 1 million test kits for the country, it said.
India has confirmed a total of 724 coronavirus positive cases and about 17 people have succumbed to the virus as of 4 pm on Friday.
