COVID-19 in India: Less than half the tests are RT-PCR

Context

• Forty-six per cent of the total COVID-19 tests conducted were RT-PCR. Forty-nine per cent were rapid antigen tests, while the remaining were Truenat and CBNAT tests. 

Highlights about RT-PCR

• The COVID-19 RT-PCR test is a real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction.
• rRT-PCR test for the qualitative detection of nucleic acid from SARS-CoV-2

What is RT-PCR?

• Reverse transcription polymerase chain reactionis a laboratory technique which involves reverse transcription of RNAinto DNA.
• It includes amplification of specific DNA targets using polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
• It is primarily used to measure the amount of a specific RNA.
• This is achieved by monitoring the amplification reaction using fluorescence, a technique called real-time PCR or quantitative PCR (qPCR).

How it is helpful?

• RT-PCR is being used in Genetic disease diagnosis, Gene insertion and Cancer detection by amplifying the genetic material.