Pune-based lab MyLab Discovery Solutions have developed a do-it-yourself (DIY) COVID-19 test kit named COVISELF for symptomatic individuals.

The Indian Council of Medical Research gave approval to the country’s first home rapid test kit on Wednesday, the makers announced on Thursday.

The new rapid test kit will produce a result within 15 minutes for symptomatic patients and one test kit will cost Rs 250. The new home-based testing solution will help in ensuring quick quarantining and will significantly help in containing the spread of COVID-19 virus.

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The Pune-based lab aims to build a stock of more than one crore test kits before the national rollout on June 1, officials said. 

Co-founder and director of MyLab Shrikant Patole told PTI, “We are manufacturing 10 lakh units a day at our facility in Lonavala. Over the next 10 days, we will be stocking up 1 crore units and then launch nationally by June 1. The purpose is to have a threshold and ensure that the product is available.”

Time was taken to develop a right software and mobile application, pointing out that every hit has a unique QR code to identify every test, Patole added. 

As ICMR approved the home-based testing kit, it cautioned people against unnecessary testing and stated that the kits should only be used on symptomatic individuals and on the immediate contacts of RP-PCR confirmed positive cases. 

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The individuals who test positive through the rapid test kit shall be considered as positive COVID case and no repeat testing is required, the ICMR said in an advisory.

A mobile application, which is available on both Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store, must be downloaded by users, and the guide of testing procedure in the app will provide a positive or negative test result to the patient.