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ICMR-NIV Pune develops and validates the indigenous IgF ELISA test "COVID KAVACH ELISA" for antibody detection for COVID-19

The scientists at ICMR-NIV, Pune have developed and validated the completely indigenous IgG ELISA test for antibody detection for SARS-CoV-2. On external validation, the IgG test kit produced by ICMR-NIV, Pune has been found to have sensitivity and specificity of 98.7% and 100% respectively. ELISA test has the advantage of processing 90 samples together in a single run of two-and-a-half hours. Moreover, ELISA based testing is easily possible even at district level as the ELISA kit has inactivated virus. There are also minimal biosafety and biosecurity requirements as compared to the real-time RT-PCR test. This test has an advantage of having much higher sensitivity and specificity as compared to the several rapid test kits.