What is COVID 19?

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus. Most people infected with the COVID-19 virus will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without requiring special treatment. Older people and those with underlying medical problems like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer are more likely to develop serious illness.
The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is an emergent virus responsible for the respiratory illness Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). First documented in the city of Wuhan (China), it has spread to most countries across the globe.
The original source of SARS-CoV-2 is unknown. It has been reported to have high similarity to coronaviruses found in bats and pangolins, however, neither of these animals are thought to have been sold in the meat market that the earliest patients visited, suggesting an intermediate host. The virus itself is a single-stranded RNA virus from the betacoronavirus genus, along with SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and a variety of weaker coronaviruses that typically cause common colds.

How COVID-19 Spreads?

To the best of our understanding, the virus is primarily spread through contact and respiratory droplets. Under some circumstances airborne transmission may occur (such as when aerosol generating procedures are conducted in health care settings or potentially, in indoor crowded poorly ventilated settings elsewhere).
More studies are urgently needed to investigate such instances and assess their actual significance for transmission of COVID-19. Most infected people will develop mild to moderate illness and recover without hospitalization. Infected patients may experience symptoms such as follows:

Most common symptoms: Fever, Dry Cough, Tiredness

Less common symptoms: Aches and pains, Sore throat/loss of taste or smell, Diarrhoea, Conjunctivities

Serious symptoms: Difficulty breathing or Shortness of breath, Chest pain or Pressure, Loss of speech or movement

Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented damage on both health and economic fronts. As on date, there are more than 37 million confirmed cases and 1 million deaths attributed to the virus. World over, ~40 countries are in partial or full lockdown. Speedy containment of the pandemic is the need of the hour. During this time, testing will need to be ramped up multifold, and Covid-19 tests remain the gold standard for diagnosis. Meril adds its contribution of Unboxing hope for the world with the CE approved Covid-19 testing solutions.

Meril Life Sciences can support India in indigenous supply of Covid-19 diagnostic tests across the spectrum of RT-PCR, antigen and antibody testing. With capacity to indigenously produce two million CE-approved multiplex RT-PCR tests per month, Meril can help the nation rapidly ramp up Covid-19 testing. We have also partnered with ICMR to fast-track production of Merilisa Covid KAVACH IgG antibody ELISA screening kits and can produce 1.5 million tests a month. A rapid antigen test is also being developed by the Meril R&D team, with the aim of producing one million tests a month. We are committed to ensure that India not only becomes Atma Nirbhar in testing, but is also capable of exporting to help the world meet its testing requirements. Ramping up testing has been at the center of India’s efforts to contain the pandemic, and the twin priorities of testing strategy specified by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) are diagnosis and sero-surveillance.

Meril COVID-19 One step RT-PCR Test

Meril COVID-19 One Step RT-PCR Kit is a Real-Time RT-PCR Detection Kit based on Multiplexing gene detection that identifies and detects the novel coronavirus (SARS COV-2) nucleic acids (RNA) in human serum nasopharyngeal, Oropharyngeal and throat swab samples. The result can be used to assist diagnosis of patients with COVID-19 infection and provide molecular diagnostic basis for infected patients. Product been Evaluated by National Institute of Virology (NIV) and Europian CE certified, the kit has a simple work flow and no cross-reactivity with other respiratory viruses.

Meril COVID-19 One Step RT-PCR Kit is based on dual-target gene design, thus allowing the user to detect two viral genes (Orf 1ab gene and N gene) and one internal control gene in a single tube. ORF1ab gene and nucleoprotein N gene are used as conformational genes to detect the presence of SARS COV-2 virus in patent sample. RNAs P gene is used as an internal control. The kit has high accuracy with high sensitivity and specificity and does not have any cross reactivity with other respiratory viruses. The limit of detection is <5 RNA copies/reaction.

With all reagents available including controls, an assay time of 65 mins and compatibility with a wide range of open PCR systems(Applied Biosystems (ABI) 7500, Roche, Shanghai Hongshi SLAN-96P, QIAGEN Rotor Gene Q or other PCR instruments with FAM, HEX/VIC, RED/ROX channels). Meril COVID-19 One Step RT-PCR is a easy to use kit providing accurate repeatable and reproducible results.

Meril COVID-19 IgG/IgM rapid Test

Meril COVID-19 IgG/IgM rapid tests is a lateral flow rapid immunochromatographic diagnostic test for the qualitative differential detection of SARS-CoV-2 IgG and IgM antibodies in human whole blood or serum/plasma. Highly purified Antigens conjugated on to the it for higher accuracy. With a test volume of only 10µl whole blood/ serum/ plasma and specificity of 97.20% and specificity of 99.22%, this user friendly kit can provide results in 20 mins. Due to the above advantages Meril COVID-19 IgG/IgM rapid test is the ideal choice for the identification of early or past infection of COVID-19 disease.

COVID Kavach Merilisa Test

ICMR-NIV Anti-SARS CoV-2 Human IgG ELISA COVID KAVACH – MERILISA is an Enzyme immunoassay based on Indirect ELISA Principle for the detection of Covid-19 (SARS CoV-2) IgG antibodies in Human Serum/Plasma. It is intended for qualitative detection of IgG antibodies in serum/plasma of patients presenting clinical signs and symptoms consistent with SARS CoV-2 infection.
COVID KAVACH – MERILISA has an excellent accuracy of 100% Specificity and 93.3% sensitivity. And just like all Merilisa range of products it is easy to use and has a user friendly protocol. The total assay time is of 130 mins. For more details you can refer to the attached brochure and pack insert.
IgG Antibodies play a vital role as they generally start appearing after two weeks of onset of infection and lasts for several months in the human body after patient recovery. Thus we can detect episode of SARS CoV-2 infection in the past in patient sample with the help of ICMR-NIV Anti-SARS CoV-2 Human IgG ELISA COVID KAVACH – MERILISA.

ICMR-NIV Anti-SARS CoV-2 Human IgG ELISA COVID KAVACH – MERILISA is useful for:

Identifying patients with an adaptive immune-response
Providing information for disease prevalence
Identification of potential donor for convalescent plasma
To perform epidemiological and surveillance studies

Meriscreen COVID-19 Antigen Detection Test

Meriscreen COVID-19 Antigen Detection Test is a rapid immunochromatographic assay kit for the qualitative detection of SARS-CoV-2 antigen in nasopharyngeal swab sample from a human sample (Nasopharyngeal swab). The test device is based on lateral flow technology and is coated with highly purified Monoclonal anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies for the accurate detection of SARS-CoV-2 antigen. The kit is Ideal for early detection of COVID – 19 as it can Detects COVID - 19 from Onset of symptoms. Due to the kits easy to use design the kit is well suited for on the spot testing. The kit is ICMR approved, 80% sensitive, 98.1% specific and provides results with 20 minutes.