India, Sept. 2 -- Researchers from the New Delhi-based Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) have developed a new method of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) testing that is faster, cheaper, and almost as accurate as the Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test, considered the gold standard of testing for the infection.

The method eliminates the need for a biosafety lab, which makes it possible for it to be used at airports and railway stations to test passengers before they board a plane or a train.

Instead of amplifying the genetic material of the Sars-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19, the technique developed by researchers from IGIB uses mass spectrometry to detect two peptides (building blocks of the...