COVIRAP

Why in news?

• A new COVID-19 diagnostic method named COVIRAP has been approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) after testing.

About COVIRAP:

• It is a new COVID-19 diagnostic method, using a low-cost portable unit developed by researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur.
• It has showed an accuracy level only slightly lower than the gold standard RT-PCR method, at a fraction of the cost of RT-PCR.
• The machine cost less than ?5,000 to make and the test kits would each cost about ?500.
• Once the viral RNA was extracted, the testing process takes about one hour.
• Before this another accurate and low-cost paper-based test strip to detect Covid-19 using CRISPR cas-9 technique called Feluda had been approved for commercial launch                                                                                                                                                                               

PRELIMS QUESTION

Consider the following statements regarding COVIRAP, a diagnostic test used for covid-19:
1.It was developed by United nations along with oxford university.
2.It uses CRISPR- cas9 technology for virus detection.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a)1 only
(b)2 only
(c)Both 1 and 2 
(d)Neither 1 nor 2

Answer to prelims question