LAHORE: A team of Punjab University (PU) scientists headed by Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology’s (CEMB) Prof Dr Muhammad Idrees has developed a low-cost diagnostic kit to test suspected coronavirus patients.

Talking to the media, Prof Idrees, a renowned virologist and former vice chancellor of University of Hazara, said development of a testing kit was not a big job for a scientist and now the government would be able to get diagnostic kits from its own department. The kit would enable each test to cost $5 or Rs800 only, he added.

He said the laboratory testing coronavirus suspects should match BSL-3 standard so that the lab staff and others were not affected and spread of the virus could be controlled. On availability of some basic components, the team could develop thousands of kits within a week for the government, he claimed.

Prof Idress said that they started working on the kit in January and were able to make it at much cheaper costs. The kit was initially used to check for COVID-19 at the university. It used real time PCR-based method to detect infection and cost $5, much cheaper than the one announced by National University of Science and Technology at almost $20.

Vice Chancellor (VC) Prof Niaz Ahmad said that the CEMB would conduct free tests for coronavirus so that relief could be given to the people.

ONLINE CLASSES: VC Prof Ahmad has instructed officials concerned to make necessary arrangements for holding online classes from the next week. He said that since the country was battling the menace of coronavirus, education of the graduates should not be compromised and alternate ways developed to deliver lectures to students.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2020