Shocking news-complaints of faulty Chinese rapid test kits; ICMR says stop testing for two days
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in/ Chandigarh
Once again Chinese products came into limelight for wrong reasons. This time for using Chinese rapid testing kits (RT-PCR) to detect coronavirus. Today Indian Council of Medical Research told states to stop using the newly-distributed Chinese rapid testing kits (RT-PCR) to detect coronavirus for the next two days after huge variations in the accuracy of results were noticed across regions.
The RT-PCR test is the gold standard for frontline test for Covid-19.ICMR authorities today said that, “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.”
“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”, R Gangakhedkar, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
This disease is only few months-old so all technologies will be refined over time but we can’t ignore these findings,” he added.
Earlier in the day, the Rajasthan government said that they have stopped using the China-made rapid testing kits for coronavirus after they delivered inaccurate results.
Shocking news-complaints of faulty Chinese rapid test kits; ICMR says stop testing for two days
Around 5 lakh Rapid Test kits were procured by the government and distributed around the country after the ICMR recommended that every resident in coronavirus hot-spots — or areas with a large number of cases — will be tested for the virus. It was decided to use fast-track kits as the regular RT-PCR tests are slow and have to be conducted in laboratories. Many states in the country do not have adequate testing facilities.
April,21,2020
