The ICMR-RMRC (Indian Council of Medical Research – Regional Medical Research Centre) centre in Lahowal Dibrugarh, Assam has developed a kit that can detect the Omicron variant of Covid-19 virus, the latest variant of the Chinese virus that has emerged as most infectious so far. The newly developed kit can detect the new variant within just two hours.
A team of ICMR-RMRC scientists led by Senior Scientist Dr Biswajit Borkakoty developed the kit after the genomic sequence of the omicron variant was released on 25th November. Announcing the development, Dr Borkakoty said ICMR-RMRC Dibrugarh designed the kit in-house, which is a real-time RT-PCR assay that can detect the new Omicron variant within 2 hours. the team developed the kit in just 10 days.
It is a very important development because at present it takes a minimum of 36 hours to detect the variant using the targeted sequencing, and 4-5 days are needed for the whole genome sequencing to detect the variant.
Dr Borkakoty said that the newly developed kit is a hydrolysis probe-based real-time RT-PCR assay, and they have validated it using synthetic Omicron gene fragment, and also using SARS-CoV-2, and it has been found 100% accurate so far. He also said that although the Omicron variant is SARS-CoV-2 virus only, it has some differences in its spike protein, and the test checks for those spike proteins.
A news of hope amid fears. Assam is the first state in the country, that invents Omicron detection KIT. First ever KIT of this kind in India created by senior scientists from ICMR Lahowal. KIT that will soon hit the market with 100 per cent accurate results from Omicron in 2 hrs. pic.twitter.com/HzI7WZiDTB
— Nandan Pratim Sharma Bordoloi 🇮🇳 (@NANDANPRATIM) December 11, 2021
“The kit is tested against specific synthetic gene fragments of Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 within two different highly specific unique regions of the spike protein and also reference wild type control synthetic gene fragments,” he said. The kit can differentiate between Omicron and other variants of Covid-19, and it has been sent to NIV Pune for external validation.
West Bengal based biotech company GCC Biotech is synthesising the kit on the basis of the ICMR-RMRC Dibrugarh’s design, and it will be a completely made-in-India development. The company will synthesise the kits in bulk in PPP mode, and they have the capacity to synthesise it in 2 to 3 days, informed Dr Biswajit Borkakoty. He also informed that the licensing process for the technology is in process.
WHO has classified the Omicron variant as a ‘variant of concern’ after it was first detected in South Africa last month, because it has an unusually large number of mutations, several of which are novel. The variant also has significant number of mutations spike proteins, and as several vaccines target the spike proteins, the variant has the potential to evade them.
