Chennai firm close to developing first India-made test kits

Chennai: Amid concerns over low testing of suspected Coronavirus cases in India, Chennai-based Trivitron Healthcare Group is pitted to be the first Indian manufacturer to have developed a testing kit for the virus. However, it may take another 2-3 weeks for the kits to enter the market as they would have to first undergo testing at a government-approved facility.

Dr GSK Velu, chairman and managing director of Trivitron, said the company has been working on the development of the kit for the last one month and has achieved substantial success in research and development, according to News18 report.

The central government is reported to have ordered a million testing kits from Germany as it prepares to ramp up its diagnostic and testing mechanism to meet the rising number of cases.

But till now, it has been dependent on importing testing kits and efforts have also been hampered by stock getting stuck because of airlines lockdown. Local manufacturing of the testing kits would offer a big boost.

Coronavirus has so far caused three deaths in the country and infected at least 126 people. Many experts fear the number of infected people may be much higher, but the government has simply failed to detect them because of its limited testing.

Dr Velu assured that the kits made by the company would be half the price of their imported counterparts.