IN PICs! Coronavirus home test kit gets approval, ICMR guidelines out on who should use
By Lokmat English Desk | Published: May 20, 2021 01:58 PM2021-05-20T13:58:27+5:302021-05-20T13:58:27+5:30
Next 
New Delhi: Rapid Antigen Kits to conduct Covid test at home got a green signal on Wednesday and the Indian Council of Medical Research -- the nodal body in the fight against the virus -- issued detailed guidelines on who can use it and how.
The ICMR has made it clear that only symptomatic individuals and immediate contacts of people who tested positive in the laboratory should use the home test. "Indiscriminate testing is not advised," the top medical body said.
"All individuals who test positive may be considered as true positives and no repeat testing is required... All symptomatic individuals who test negative by RAT should get themselves immediately tested by RTPCR," the ICMR said.
The CoviSelfTM (PathoCatch) COVID-19 OTC Antigen LF device was created by the Pune-based Mylab Discovery Solutions Ltd.
The home test should be conducted according to the process detailed in an app, which should be downloaded from the Google play store and Apple store, the ICMR said.
"The mobile app is a comprehensive guide of the testing procedure and will provide a positive or negative test result to the patient. All users are advised to click a picture of the test strip after completing the test procedure with the same mobile phone," the ICMR said.
The data from the phone will be centrally captured in a secure server which is connected with the ICMR COVID-19 testing portal, where all data will be eventually stored.
The medical body also assured that patient confidentiality will be fully maintained.
The home test kits are expected to take some of the pressure off laboratories. Over the last 24 hours, 20,08,296 samples have been tested in a new record.
Numbers, however, indicate that testing in the country is not continuing at full capacity.
The Corona test kit is priced at Rs 250 . The result will come in 15 minutes with this kit. (Corona home test kit costs ₹ 250)
