HLL to produce 2 lakh rapid COVID-19 test kits in next few days

Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], April 8 (ANI): With HLL Lifecare Limited getting the clearance from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for production of rapid antibody testing kit for detection of COVID-19, the government-owned healthcare company is gearing up to produce two lakh kits within 7-10 days, HLL's Operations Director EA Subramanian said on Wednesday.
HLL Lifecare Limited, a central government enterprise under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, has developed the rapid antibody diagnostic kit for COVID-19.
Speaking to ANI, EA Subramanian Director (Technical and Operations) said that the rapid testing kits shall be immediately made available for the Centre and state governments.
"HLL developed this rapid antibody test kit at our manufacturing facility at Manesar in Haryana and the sample kits were evaluated and approved by the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, and ICMR for its performance. We are in the process of getting manufacturing approval from Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) to start the production of these kits for government supply as part of corona prevention and control," he told ANI.
"In the initial phase, HLL will manufacture 2 lakh kits at our facility within 7-10 days. This will help in prevention and treatment method to fight against COVID-19 by identifying, isolating and treating suspected patients and carriers," he said.
The test will give the result within 15-20 min. The positive cases in this test may be separated from the population and undergo confirmatory RT-PCR test and further medical attention. The negative cases may be tested repeatedly for detecting the antibody in suspected population," he further added.
Subramanian said that this test method will help screen a large population suspected for COVID- 19 as well as asymptomatic in a large population sample.
The kit is one-step coronavirus IgM/IgG antibody detection from the human serum, plasma and/or whole blood obtained from the patient with signs and symptoms of respiratory infection.
The kits are likely to cost Rs.350 excluding GST for government supply. (ANI)