Pak scientists develop cheaper Covid-19 test kit

Two scientists in Pakistan have developed a test kit for Covid-19 and it will help cut the cost of the virus test to one-fourth of the money presently required, reports DAWN.

The coronavirus diagnostic test presently costs over 8,000 rupees, but the two scientists claimed that the indigenously developed Molecular Diagnostic Assays are robust, sensitive to the target and will soon be available in the market at one-fourth the price of imported assays (tests) from China and Germany.

When the scientists, Associate Professor Dr Aneela Javed and Assistant Professor Dr Ali Zohaib, shared their findings with the National Institute of Health NIH), they were very happy and appreciated their efforts.

Dr Aneela says their kit is just a package of individual components (chemicals). These individual components are supposed to mix in certain quantities at the time of the experiment. Instead of placing them separately, they have been placed in a single package, or kit.