“COVIHOME”, India's First Rapid Electronic COVID-19 test kit, developed by IIT Hyderabad

As India continues to fight against Covid-19, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad Researcher Prof Shiv Govind Singh, Department of Electrical Engineering, has developed an Artificial Intelligence-powered COVID-19 test kit called 'COVIHOME'. The kit can be performed at home at an affordable cost after commercialization and required ICMR approval. The goal is to provide affordable and fast mass testing. 

Rapid Electronic COVID-19 test kit by IIT Professor to produce results in 30 minutes post test 

This Covid-19 test kit can produce results within 30 minutes for both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients. The major benefit of this testing kit is that it does not require RT-PCR, an expert human resource, or a BSL 2 lab facility for the extraction of RNA, so it has the potential for one to take the test at home without expert supervision.

“A major objective of the research team for the development of the COVIHOME test kit was to break the transmission chain through affordable testing. We have already filed a patent for the device and are now looking for industry partners for ToT of technology for mass production,” Prof. Shiv Govind Singh said about the Rapid Electronic COVID-19 test kit.

COVIHOME to be mass-produced; costs Rs. 400 at the moment but may go down to Rs. 300 post mass production

CSIR-CCMB has performed the validation of the rapid RNA electronic diagnostic device for detection of SARS-Cov-2 virus in the swab samples independently with the in-house samples and hospital samples as advised by ICMR. These samples were confirmed for their positivity or negativity by the RT-PCR method. The validation report confirmed the kit’s efficiency of 94.2%, Sensitivity- 91.3%, and Specificity- 98.2%. Each test costs around Rs. 400. However, mass production of the Rapid Electronic COVID-19 test kit will help to reduce the cost to around Rs. 300 per test. Director of IIT Hyderabad Prof B S Murty, said,

“IIT Hyderabad has come up with many unique and novel socio-technological initiatives and delivered remarkable results during this pandemic. Prof Shiv Govind’s “COVIHOME” is one such admirable milestone. I am confident it will play a significant role in the safe & fast diagnosis of the COVID-19 and minimize its spread". 

(IMAGE: REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE)