New Delhi, Apr 24 (IANS): Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' on Friday felicitated a team of scientists from IIT Delhi involved in the development of a COVID real-time PCR diagnostic kit.

The Minister appreciated the efforts of IIT-Delhi in developing the low-cost kit for the people of India.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has invited scientists, students and researchers to come forward to combat COVID-19. In response, all premier institutions under HRD Ministry have come forward and done a commendable work in combating COVID-19," Pokhriyal said.

While felicitating the scientists, Pokhriyal said the HRD Ministry is "proud of its all institutions, researchers, academicians, faculty members and students who are working tirelessly in the time of complete lockdown to bring out solutions to the problems arising out of the outbreak of Covid-19.

The probe-free assay for COVID-19 is first-of-its-kind to be approved by ICMR. The assay can be easily scaled up as it does not require fluorescent probes.

The team is targeting large scale deployment of the kit at affordable prices with industrial partners as soon as possible.

The IIT-Delhi research team includes Prashant Pradhan (PhD scholar), Ashutosh Pandey (PhD scholar), Praveen Tripathi (PhD scholar), Dr Akhilesh Mishra, Dr Parul Gupta, Dr Sonam Dhamija, Prof Vivekanandan Perumal, Prof Manoj B. Menon, Prof Bishwajit Kundu, Prof James Gomes.