ICMR okays home testing antigen kit to detect Covid
New Delhi: In an attempt to increase testing to detect Covid-19 positive cases, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has on Wednesday approved and validated the home testing kit for Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs). The ICMR has issued a detailed advisory for Covid-19 home testing using RATs.
Though the price and availability of the kit in the retail market have not yet been disclosed either by the ICMR or Union Health Ministry, the sources have confirmed that the home testing kit is likely to be available for people by the end of this month.
The sources further said that the RAT kit has also got the approval of the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI). The increase in testing using home testing kits would depend on the price-sensitivity and availability of kit, they said, adding that at present only one kit has been validated, while in coming days more such kits would be approved as some tests kits are being reviewed.
The ICMR has approved nasal swab sample-based CoviSelf Covid-19 OTC antigen LF device, which is manufactured by Pune-based Mylab Discovery Solutions Ltd.
As per the ICMR's advisory, home testing by RAT is advised only in symptomatic individuals and immediate contacts of laboratory-confirmed positive cases. The ICMR has not advised indiscriminate testing.
As per the advisory, the users would have to install home testing mobile app from either Google play ore or Apple store and it is a comprehensive guide of the testing procedure which would provide a positive or negative test result to the patient.
All users are advised to upload the photo of the test strip after completing the test procedure with the same mobile phone which has been used for downloading the mobile app and the user registration, it said, adding that the data in the app would be centrally stored in a secure server, which is connected with the ICMR Covid-19 testing portal and patient confidentiality will be fully maintained.
"All individuals who test positive may be considered as true positives and no repeat testing is required, while all symptomatic individuals who test negative by RAT would have to get RT-PCR tested," it said, adding that all RAT negative symptomatic individuals may be treated as suspect Covid-19 cases.
