| (The Editor's Pick is a new newsletter from The Hindu that provides a snapshot of the most important stories from today's edition of our newspaper, along with a note from our top editors on why we chose to give prominence to these stories.)
A new method for diagnosing COVID-19 has been approved by the Indian Council for Medical Research. The COVIRAP method, which involves a low-cost kit developed by researchers at IIT- Kharagpur, has shown only a slightly lower accuracy level than the current standard RT-PCR test. The unit costs only Rs.5,000 and can be used in open air, compared to the Rs.25-lakh cost of the RT-PCR set up, which also requires air-conditioned laboratory settings. However, the process of RNA extraction from swabs that is required prior to the RT-PCR tests is a must for this method also. This process requires a laboratory environment. This kit could considerably bring down the cost for testing for COVID-19 across the country once it is manufactured at scale. Another fast test, the FELUDA developed by CSIR-IGIB and manufactured by TATA, is also set to reach the market. Testing remains a major priority in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, as early identification and isolation of clusters in containment zones are key. There is still heavy dependence on the error-prone antigen tests in many States. A negative antigen test still requires an RT-PCR confirmation. The introduction of low-cost and fast alternatives with much higher accuracy will improve the efficiency of the healthcare system in tackling the pandemic, making this story important. | 
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