The Indian Institute of Technology - Hyderabad (IIT-H) has developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled COVID-19 test kit that is both - affordable and quick - which can possibly help India is rapid testing at mass scale. The test doesn’t require the globally accepted Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR).

The test kit has been developed using IIT-H’s BioChips. The testing kit identifies the unique sequence of the conserved regions of the COVID-19 genome to further detect it. The test-kit evolves by itself by collecting data points through AI tools to minimize the errors in decision making.

IIT-H researcher Prof Shiv Govind Singh of the Department of Electrical Engineering led the team that had the breakthrough. He claims that the test can diagnose symptomatic and asymptomatic patients in around 20 minutes. The test is also The ergonomic, which is easy to transport, making on-site testing possible. The kit has been tested successfully in Hyderabad’s ESIC Medical College and Hospital.

According to the press release, the production of each test kit costs Rs 600 currently, but mass-production can bring down the rates to Rs 350 per test too. The test is yet to receive the approval for mass-production by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

Prof Singh has said that he will file a patent for the device. The team included post-doctoral fellow Dr Suryasnata Tripathy and PhD student Patta Supraja.

So far, India has 1,20,406 active COVID cases across all states under active medical supervision. A total of 1,19,293 patients have been cured.