Covid-19: Stop rapid tests for 2 days, says ICMR after complaints over results of new kits

The Indian Council of Medical Research on Tuesday told states to stop using the newly-distributed rapid testing kits to detect coronavirus for the next two days after huge variations in the accuracy of results were noticed across regions.

Addressing its daily briefing on Covid-19, head of Epidemiology and Communicable Diseases at ICMR Raman R Gangakhedkar said, "We got a complaint of less detection from one state. So we spoke to three states and found that a lot of variation is there in the accuracy of test results of positive samples, in some places it is 6 per cent while others it is 71 per cent."

"This is not a good thing because when such a huge variation is seen we need to investigate further even if it is the first generation of the test. This disease is only 3.5-month-old so all technologies will be refined over time but we can't ignore these findings," he added.

He added that over the next two days the ICMR will be sending eight expert teams on the field to validate the results.

"Hence, all states are requested to not use the rapid testing kits on the field for the next two days," Gangakhedkar said.