BHU department claims to have discovered new technology to test COVID-19

The Department of Molecular & Human Genetics at the Banaras Hindu University has claimed that it has discovered a new technology to test the COVID-19 virus and give accurate results within 5-6 hours. 

The department’s Associate Professor Dr. Geeta Rai stated that the department had tried to target a protein sequence present only in the COVID-19 virus. “We've tried to target a protein sequence present only in COVID19 & not present in any other viral strain,” she said.

Dr. Rai added saying, “We're hopeful when testing is done it will only detect COVID19 presence, so there'll be less chance of false detection.”

The new technology has been developed by an all-women team of BHU’s Department of Molecular & Human Genetics. The team includes four researchers- Dr. Geeta Rai, Dolly Das, Khushbupriya and Hiral Thakar. 

The research team had filed a patent on March 27, 2020. However, it needs to be validated by the Indian virology research institute- The National Institute of Virology in Pune and after that it would require approval from the Indian Council of Medical Research.