ICMR issues guidelines for Feluda test

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has issued an advisory for the use of FELUDA paper strip test, its country’s first indigenously developed test for coronavirus (Covid-19).It detects active coronavirus infection in by using CRISPR CAS9 based on genetic tool. It gives result in less than 1hour.

“Feluda stands for FnCas9 Editor Linked Uniform Detection Assay. It detects active Covid-19 infection by using a CRISPR CAS 9 based readout on a paper strip. RNA to detection takes place in less than 1h. It doesn’t require real time PCR machine, will be cheap and can be performed at point of care settings where a simple pcr machine is present.” Says Dr Debojyoti Chakraborty, Senior Scientist , CSIR-IGIB