Contributed by Dr. Ashok Tamhankar & Dr. Nishtha Khatri
The National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), India has developed dry swab technology that has been recently approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for COVID-19 testing. The dry swab technology eliminates the need for the use of a liquid transport medium and thereby it not only abolishes the dilution factor but also helps prevent unwanted use of available resources. Moreover, getting rid of the transport medium helps to reduce the testing time considerably. The dry swab technique has been found to be effective and also reduces the risk of handling and transportation of samples.