ELISA tests should be used for only two purposes, ICMR said.

ICMR ELISA kits: The Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), which is the nodal body leading India’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic, on Wednesday released a list of validated IgG ELISA kits for the testing of COVID-19 with the names of the companies and the manufacturers of these kits. In the release, ICMR also enlisted the purposes for which these kits are to be used.

ICMR COVID-19 ELISA kits: Purpose of use

The ICMR said that the ELISA tests should be used for only two purposes.

• Serosurveys: The kits are to be used for conducting serosurveys to understand how much of the population has been exposed to the infection, including the asymptomatic individuals. This is important because based on the seroprevalence of the infection, public health authorities can implement interventions for the prevention as well as control of the disease.
• Other than that, these kits should be used only for survey among vulnerable or high-risk populations, like healthcare workers, immunocompromised individuals, frontline workers, or those in containment zones, so that individuals who had been infected and have now recovered can be identified.

COVID-19: Approve ELISA kits

The following tests have been approved:

1. COVID Kavach ELISA IgG: Currently, the ICMR has only approved three batches of these kits manufactured by Zydus Cadila Healthcare Ltd from Gujarat.
2. Euroimmun Anti- SARS-COV-2 ELISA IgG: One batch of the kits has been approved, manufactured by Euroimmune US Inc., USA.
3. Erbalisa COVID-19 IgG ELISA: One batch developed by Calbiotech Inc., USA, has been approved by the ICMR.

Apart from this, the ICMR has also given the list of seven manufacturers to whom the agency has transferred the technology to undertake the production of indigenous COVID Kavach ELISA IgG kits.

ELISA tests, which stands for enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay test, is similar to rapid antibody test, which detects the presence of COVID-19 antobodies in the blood, to identify individuals who were infected by the disease.