Rapid antibody-based tests for COVID-19 hotspots first 

  • IASbaba
  • April 7, 2020
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Rapid antibody-based tests for COVID-19 hotspots first 

 Part of: GS Prelims and GS-II – Health 

 In News: 

  • According to The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the rapid antibody based blood test for COVID-19 will be deployed in clusters and hot spots showing high incidence of confirmed cases. 

Key takeaways: 

  • Moreover, over all testing for COVID-19 using real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is also increasing.  
  • All States/UTs have been issued guidelines for implementing Rapid antibody – based tests. 
  • Reports shall be entered into the ICMR portal similar to results of real-time RT PCR tests for COVID-19.  

Important value additions: 

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) 

  • It is the apex body in India for the formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research.  
  • The ICMR is funded by the Government of India through the Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health.  

Real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)  

  • It is a laboratory technique combining reverse transcription of RNA into DNA.  
  • It detects the virus.  

Rapid antibody – based test 

  • It uses blood.  
  • It detects the body’s response to the virus.  
  • A positive result tells that the body was exposed to the virus.  

Pooled sampling 

  • It means testing samples from multiple patients with a single PCR test.  
  • It has been used previously in the early stages of the HIV epidemic. 
  • Such tests reduce the time, cost, and resources required.  
  • It identifies infected people in a population and estimates the infection rate.  
  • This allows medical experts to identify community clusters for targeted public health interventions.  

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