New Delhi: States and Union Territories have been asked to put on hold the use of COVID-19 rapid antibody test kits till their accuracy is rechecked by apex health research body the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), official sources said on Saturday.
Earlier, ICMR had asked states and UTs to stop antibody testing following reports of wide variations in results.
The issue of rapid testing was also discussed in Saturday's Group of Ministers (GoM) in COVID-19 meeting, chaired by Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan.
Sources said that ICMR teams are verifying the accuracy of the antibody testing kits which were procured mainly from China. India had earlier procured five lakh antibody testing kits from two Chinese companies.
Earlier, several other countries also reported about the inaccuracy of such antibody testing kits provided by China.
The two Chinese companies (Wondfo Biotech and Livzon Diagnostics) have reportedly said that their kits don't have any problem "problem may be with the way they were being used by healthcare workers."
The ICMR had earlier said that rapid testing should be done for surveillance purpose and not for early diagnosis.
"It's only RT PCR tests which can confirm COVID-19 positive," Dr Raman R Gangakhedkar, head of epidemiology and communicable disease in ICMR said.
It was West Bengal, who first complained about antibody testing. Later, ICMR verified with three other states about its inaccuracy.
Dr Gangakhedkar said that the antibody testing kits will be validated in the field by teams from eight ICMR institutes after which a clear cut advisory for the states and UTs will be issued.
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