CoviSelfTM, priced at ₹250, will provide the results in 15 minutes
Mylab Discovery Solutions – the company that gave India its first RT-PCR test a year ago, has today announced that it has received ICMR’s approval for India’s first self-use rapid antigen test for Covid-19. The test is developed in India and is named as CoviSelfTM.
The self-use test can be used by symptomatic individuals and immediate contacts of confirmed cases as per ICMR guidelines. Users of this test will not need sample collection by a healthcare professional. “This will ease pressure on already overburdened testing labs and reduce delays in testing, which is more than 72 hours in some parts of the country. With CoviSelfTM, Mylab aims to make testing reach the doorstep of every Indian to help them fight the second and any subsequent waves of pandemic” Mylab stated in a press release.
Mylab will price this test at ₹250 and the company will start shipping out tests within a few days. Mylab’s current production capacity is 70 lakh tests per week and it plans to increase its capacity to 1 crore tests per week within 14 days.
No need for prescriptions
The release added that any citizen can test for Covid-19 themselves, isolate and seek treatment quickly. Early detection can help save thousands of lives and significantly reduce the burden on hospitals. The test can be purchased without a prescription from local pharmacies and online channel partners.
Hasmukh Rawal, Managing Director of Mylab Discovery Solutions said that “This is the biggest crisis our country has ever faced. Time and again, we have tried to observe carefully what our country needs and developed solutions with social benefit at the core. With CoviSelfTM, we are sharing the power of testing early with the citizens. It will save thousands of lives. For India, we will make millions of kits available at a fraction of the cost of such kits in the US”.
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Each kit will be provided with all testing materials, instructions to use (IFU) leaflet and a bio-hazard bag to safely dispose off after testing. The test is designed to be done using a nasal swab (not the deep nasopharyngeal swab) to reduce the discomfort. CoviSelfTM will provide results in 15 minutes .
“Most western countries have allowed self-test for their citizens and consider it as a powerful tool to break the chain. This easy-to-use test combines with Myab’s AI-powered mobile app so that a user can know his/her positive status, submit the result to ICMR directly for traceability, and know what to do next in either case of result. We are sure this small step will be a big leap in mitigating the second and subsequent waves,” said Sujit Jain, Director at Mylab Discovery Solutions.
