‘Feluda’ Tests Approved for Testing COVID-19
Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) of India has approved commercial launch of Feluda a low cost COVID-19 test.
Currently the number of COVID cases in India is growing rapidly. On an average in India, more than 10 lakh covid tests are done in a day. Now the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) of India has approved commercial launch of a new, low cost test to check if a person has been infected with Covid-19. The test has been named ‘Feluda’. Feluda is the acronym for FNCAS9 Editor Linked Uniform Detection Assay. Feluda is a fictional private detective from West Bengal created by famous writer and filmmaker Satyajit Ray in his novels. This test detects COVID-19 in in less than 30 minutes.
The Feluda test is similar to a pregnancy test strip. In the test a patient's saliva or blood sample is taken and then put on the strip. It will just change colour upon detection of the virus and can be used in a simple pathological lab.This new test is developed by a research team led by Debojyoti Chakraborty and Souvik Maiti of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Tata Group. In March, only RT-PCR tests were available to check for covid infection. These tests were expensive and would take longer. The Feluda tests priced at Rs 500 will ensure that more people are tested and the spread of infection is controlled.
