What are R-Green Kits of COVID-19?

The Reliance Life Sciences recently developed RT-PCR kit that will diagnose COVID-19 infection in about 2 hours. These kits are called R-Green Kits.

Highlights

RT-PCR are the most accurate tests being conducted for COVID-19. However, the only drawback in this test is its time consumption. It takes six to eight hours to produce results. However, the R-Green kits take only two hours.

About the R-Green kit

The R-Green kit can detect R-gene, E-Gene, EdEp gene of the COVID-19 virus. It uses Actin (a type of protein) as an internal control. According to ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research), the test kit shows 98.7% of sensitivity and 98.8% of specificity.

The kit is simple to operate. The RT-PCR kits usually needs three to four experts to test for COVID-19 virus. Also, the procedure to test is comprehensive. These drawbacks are overcome by R-Green kit.

Mutation in COVID-19

The death rate of COVID-19 is closely related to mutation of two proteins of the virus. They are Surface Glycoprotein and NSP6.

The mutation rate of Cluster II countries (USA) are lower than that of Cluster I (India and Bangladesh) and Cluster III countries (New Zealand and Australia). Thus, the death rates in Cluster II countries will be greater than the Cluster I and Cluster III countries. In other words, the recovery, incidence and spread of Cluster I and Cluster III countries will be more than that of Cluster II countries.

Mutation Rate and Intensity of COVID-19

On October 1, 2020, an international team of researchers at Banaras Hindu University have found that if the mutation rate of COVID-19 is higher in a region, then its infection would be lesser. The fact has been agreed at international level as well.

According to the study, mutation of COVID-19 is the main reason behind difference in death rates of COVID-19 across various states. The research team analysed the expression of the Surface Glyco protein called the ACE2 (Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2). This protein acts as a gateway for the COVID-19 virus to enter human body. The researchers studied the frequency of mutation in the genes present in this protein. The results of the study showed that the mutations varied between 33% and 100% across different regions in India.

Month: Current Affairs - October, 2020