What is Feluda Test? New COVID Test Kit costs only Rs 500, read to know more

The Drugs Controller General of India has approved the launch of an accurate and low-cost paper-based test strip to detect Covid-19. This test kit is being called the Feluda kit and is reportedly capable of detecting the virus in less than 30 minutes. The Feluda Kit has been developed by the researchers of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Tata Group research team, led by Debojyoti Chakraborty and Souvik Maiti.

The test kit has been named Feluda which is a fictional character of a private detective from West Bengal. The character was created by renowned Bengali writer and filmmaker Satyajit Ray. The announcement of the new Feluda Kit was made by the CSIR recently in a Twitter post.  Read on to find out, “What is Feluda Test?”

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Low-cost COVID Test

The development of this low-cost COVID test kit comes at a time when India has been conducting an average of 10 lakh tests daily. In a statement released by the CSIR on its official website, it was revealed that this low-cost COVID test kit is powered by CSIR-IGIB (Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology) FELUDA. It has also met high-quality benchmarks, with 96 per cent sensitivity and 98 per cent specificity for detecting novel coronavirus.

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What is Feluda Test?

The CSIR didn’t just randomly think of naming the COVID test kit after Satyajit Ray’s iconic detective character. Feluda is actually also an acronym for FNCAS9 Editor Linked Uniform Detection Assay. The low-cost COVID Test kit uses the indigenously developed CRISPR gene-editing technology to identify and target the genetic material of SARS-CoV2, which is the deadly virus that causes Covid-19.

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CSIR has also revealed in an official statement, that the Feluda test kit matches the accuracy levels of RT-PCR tests, which are considered as the gold standard in the diagnosis of Covid-19. In fact, it has a shorter turnaround time and is less expensive. And if this wasn’t a feat enough in itself, the Feluda kit is also the world’s first diagnostic test to position a specially adapted Cas9 protein in order to successfully detect the virus.

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How does the Feluda Test work?

The newly devised Feluda test is very similar to a pregnancy test strip. Hence, it will just change colour upon detection of the virus. This low-cost COVID test can be used in a simple pathological lab as well. Dr Debojyoti Chakraborty has stated that the Cas9 protein is barcoded to communicate with the SARS-CoV2 sequence in the patient’s genetic material. The Cas9-SARS-CoV2 complex is put on the paper strip, and by using two lines (one control, one test) it becomes possible to determine if the test sample was infected with Covid-19 or not.

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How much does the Feluda COVID test cost?

One of the most impressive facts about the ‘Feluda’ test is that it cost merely ₹500. The RT-PCR test currently costs somewhere between Rs 1,600 to Rs 2,000. The Antibody tests, which are able to give results in 20-30 minutes, cost between Rs 500 and Rs 600. A rapid antigen test kit costs Rs 450 and interprets a positive or negative test in 30 minutes. The TruNat test provides results within 60 minutes and a kit comes for about Rs 1,300.

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