New Delhi, Jan 5: The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) showed its affirmation towards an India-made testing kit for detecting the Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

The kit manufactured by TATA Medical and Diagnostics has been named Omisure and it will be used to confirm the Omicron in patients with its S-Gene Target Failure (SGTF) strategy.

Omisure, was earlier sent to the ICMR for approval after continued testing.

Subsequently, ICMR approved using of the testing kit for detecting the Omicron variant in the infected patients.

ICMR’s letter of approval dated December 30, 2021, said: “The tests have been performed as per the manufacturer’s instructions. Responsibility for batch-to-batch consistency lies with the manufacturer.”

The kit has been developed by the U.S.-based scientific instrumentation company Thermo Fisher that also uses the SGTF strategy to detect the variant.

Meanwhile, the number of new COVID-19 cases in India saw a record spike today. As many as 37,379 new cases were reported in the country in the last 24hours, which is the highest in the past three months, according to data updated by the Health Ministry. The country also reached a high of 1,892 cases of the Omicron variant across 23 States and Union Territories today.