ICMR develops test kit to detect Omicron COVID-19 variant in 2 hours

The ICMR researchers in Assam have developed a COVID-19 testing kit that can detect the Omicron variant in two hours. "As of now a minimum of 36 hours is required for targeted sequencing and 4-5 days for whole-genome sequencing to detect the variant," said Dr Biswajyoti Borkakoty leading the ICMR team. India currently has 33 cases of the Omicron variant.