IITs against Coronavirus — All the experiments from electrified water to herbal sanitizers to cheap test kits

• From developing cheaper test kits, hand sanitizers and sterilization techniques — IITs are doing all it takes to control the virus.
  
• IIT Roorkee researchers prepared 150 litres of herbal hand sanitizer.
  
• IIT Delhi researchers developed ‘cheaper’ test kits to trim the cost of diagnosis.
  
• IIT and AIIMS alumni came up with a device called ‘Airlens Minus Corona’ that can travel the streets to sterilize them.

As India locks down to contain Coronavirus, India’s researchers of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are busy at labs to come up with smart solutions for the same.

From developing cheaper test kits, hand sanitizers and sterilization techniques — IITs are doing all it takes to control the virus.

Herbal hand sanitizers

Researchers at IIT Roorkee, Hyderabad and Kharagpur campuses made their own sanitizers. IIT Roorkee said that its researchers — Siddharth Sharma and Vaibhav Jain — prepared 150 litres of herbal hand sanitizer.

These herbal sanitizers, which also act as moisturizers, comprise 80% ethanol along with antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory ingredients. They plan to distribute the sanitizer free across the campus.

“In view of the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic, it is imperative to maintain basic hygiene practices since there is no specific treatment or vaccine for the disease. This IIT Roorkee-incubated product will be useful to the entire community by promoting basic hygiene,” Siddharth Sharma, a research scholar of Centre of Nanotechnology, IIT Roorkee told the Indian Express.

This was after IIT Hyderabad developed its own hand sanitizers as recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

‘Cheaper’ test kits for diagnosing Coronavirus infection

IIT Delhi researchers developed ‘cheaper’ test kits to trim the cost of diagnosis. These test kits are now at clinical trial stage. However, the cost of the kits hasn’t been disclosed as yet.

“The way we are trying to make testing for COVID-19 cheaper is by making some changes at the third stage of testing. The COVID-19 test is a three-step process, and at the third stage, amplification is needed, for which a probe is supposed to be used. We are not using a probe, and this would potentially save cost,” assistant professor Vivekanandan Perumal said.

Sterilizing the streets

IIT and AIIMS alumni — Debayan Saha and Shashi Ranjan — came up with a device called ‘Airlens Minus Corona’ a device that can travel the streets, hospitals, bus stops, railway stations, shopping malls and other public places and sterilise them.

They have invented a way to kill Coronavirus using charged or ionised water droplets by electrifying, to kill Coronavirus, IANS reported.

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