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Intelvision jumps onboard in the battle to contain the COVID-19 pandemic |31 March 2020

Local telecommunication company Intelvision is now onboard in the battle to contain the coronavirus – COVID-19 – locally, bringing its support to the department of health through a batch of 3000 rapid test kits which churn out results within 15 to 20 minutes.

The Novel Coronavirus IgM Antibody Detection Kit (SARS-CoV-2) (ab272244) is suitable for the qualitative detection of Novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) IgM antibodies in human serum, plasma, and whole blood.

Being a standalone, the kit does not require any machine for result reading.

Chairman of Intelvision, Mukesh Valabhji, presented the test kits to chief executive of the Health Care Agency, Dr Danny Louange, during a small ceremony yesterday at the company’s headquarters at Providence.

On behalf of Intelvision, Mr Valabhji also pledged to donate five ventilators, along with 60 sets of infrared thermometers.

He noted that Intelvision, being an integral part of the Seychelles community, feels that it is its duty and responsibility to help in the fight against the pandemic.

“Nothing is more important than the health and safety of our people and our country and with this donation, we hope to equip the department of health to detect the COVID-19 infections early and help save lives,” noted Mr Valabhji who further added that with the challenges of airlines shutting down and global logistic issues, the company has managed to bring the consignment home with the help of Ambassador David Pierre who was instrumental in co-ordinating the cargo logistics with Ethiopian Airlines and China-based partners.

Accepting the kits, Dr Louange said the donation will make a huge difference within the community and he described the gesture as the perfect collaboration between the private sector and the government.

He also commended Mr Valabhji and his team for their wise choice and hard work in bringing the test kits which will be a supplement to existing stock.

Dr Louange also urged members of the public to take their responsibilities by following the advice and guidelines of the department of health.

The detection kit uses the principle of immunochromatography which is the separation of components in a mixture through a medium using capillary force and the specific and rapid binding of an antibody to its antigen.

Each cassette is a dry medium that has been coated separately with novel coronavirus N protein (“T” test line) and goat antichicken IgY antibody (“C” control line).

Two free colloidal gold-labelled antibodies, mouse anti-human IgM (mIgM) and chicken IgY, are in the release pad section.

Once diluted serum, plasma, or whole blood is applied to the release pad section, the mIgM antibody will bind to coronavirus IgM antibodies if they are present, forming an IgM-IgM complex.

The sample and antibodies will then move across the cassette’s medium via capillary action. If coronavirus IgM antibody is present in the sample, the test line will be bound by the IgM-IgM complex and develop colour. If there is no coronavirus IgM antibody in the sample, free mIgM will not bind to the test line and no colour will develop. The free chicken IgY antibody will bind to the control line; this control line should be visible after the detection step as this confirms that the kit is working properly.

 

Roland Duval

By:Laura Pillay

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