Thyrocare launches COVID antibody test

The test is available pan India and has been approved by the ICMR

Thyrocare has announced the availability of COVID antibody test to check the body’s response to COVID-19 infection. It is not a diagnostic test but is used for sero-surveillance to understand whether a person has encountered the infection in the recent past. The test kits and procedures have been approved by ICMR and Thyrocare has made the test available pan India in all cities.

The test identifies if a person has had the novel corona virus at some point in the past and has produced the antibodies to fight it. Thyrocare has made the tests widely available and has begun collecting the blood samples in all major cities.

The test doesn’t require fasting or any other precautionary measures to be followed. These tests are primarily done to check whether your immune system, your body’s defence against illness has responded to the infection or not. It is done as sero-surveillance, which is a reference to understand the spread of infection in the community by looking for antibody generation in an exposed individual. This test is not for diagnostic purposes. When someone is infected with the COVID-19 virus, the body’s immune system produces antibodies to fight the infection. This test lets you know if you have contracted the virus and have antibodies to
fight it or you haven’t contracted the virus yet.

Thyrocare does the COVID Antibody IgG using ELISA technology and COVID antibody total using fully automated CLIA technology. A person can choose to do either of the tests or both the tests. Antibody testing is priced at Rs 600.

Dr A Velumani, Founder and CEO, Thyrocare Technologies says, “The antibody tests will equip us with data and information regarding the immunity levels of citizens in our country. We have conducted about 10,000 tests in cities where the virus is spreading rapidly in the last week out of which 6.8 per cent of people have tested positive for the antibody tests. If your antibody test is positive, it goes on to prove that your immune system is excellent and gives you raised immunoglobulins. This gives you confidence and builds your morale. As the virus spreads rapidly in India, these tests will prove to be extremely crucial and important to bring back the normalcy.”