Hours after the
Rajasthan government stopped using the China-made
rapid testing kits citing inaccuracy in outcomes, the Indian Council of Medical Research directed all states not to use new rapid antibody test for COVID-19 for two days. The direction was issued during a press briefing.
"States advised not to use rapid testing kits for two days. A lot of variations, kits will be tested and validated by on-ground teams and we will give advisory in the next 2 days," said R Gangakhedkar of
ICMR.
Earlier today, the health minister of Rajasthan said the kits gave only 5.4 per cent accurate results against the expectation of 90 per cent accuracy and therefore the kits were of no benefit. Rajasthan had started conducting tests through rapid testing kits on Friday in the state's hotspots, starting from Jaipur.
The rapid testing kits, through which blood samples are tested, are aimed at speeding up screening and detection of suspected
coronavirus patients as they take less time to show results in comparison to the swab-based tests carried out in pathology labs.