Rajasthan Stops Use Of COVID-19 Rapid Test Kits, Says Results Inaccurate

Rajasthan Stops Use Of COVID-19 Rapid Test Kits, Says Results Inaccurate
Jaipur:

The Rajasthan government has stopped using the Rapid Testing Kits for coronavirus after they delivered inaccurate results. The Centre as well as the country's nodal testing organisation, the Indian Council of Medical Research, have been informed about the matter, the government said.

The rapid test kits had only 5.4 per cent accuracy, state health minister Raghu Sharma told reporters today.

Around 170 tests were conducted in the State's hotspots, starting with Jaipur, since Friday, he said. The kits were also used for testing of patients who have already tested positive for coronavirus. But the rapid test kits found them negative, which raised questions about the credibility of these kits, the minister said.

 "As per the advice of the committee, we have stopped testing from the rapid testing kits. We have written to the ICMR about it and their response is awaited," the minister said.

Rapid testing kits take roughly 15 minutes to deliver results, compared to the currently used RT-PCR tests, which are conducted in laboratories and take around 6 hours.

Since last month, after the ICMR issued tenders for the procurement of 5 lakh antibody test kits, scores of companies -- domestic and international – are queuing up to provide rapid testing kits to India.

The slow pace of the current testing system and inadequate number of laboratories have kept the rate of testing very slow in the country. Aggressive testing and subsequent quarantine is the only way to gain the upper hand over the virus, the World Health Organisation has said.

The ICMR has recommended that every resident in coronavirus hot-spots, or areas with a large number of cases, will be tested with a fast-track kit.

India has procured around 5 lakh rapid test kits, most of which are from China.

World

Coronavirus has spread to 185 countries. The total confirmed cases worldwide are 24,76,854 and 1,70,299 have died; 16,59,795 are active cases and 6,46,760 have recovered as on April 21, 2020 at 8:30 am.

India

In India, there are 18,601 confirmed cases including 590 deaths. The number of active cases is 14,759 and 3,252 have recovered as on April 21, 2020 at 8:00 am.

State & District Details

State Cases Active Recovered Deaths Maharashtra

4666

3862

572

232

Delhi

2081

1603

431

47

Gujarat

1939

1737

131

71

Rajasthan

1576

1346

205

25

Tamil Nadu

1520

1046

457

17

Madhya Pradesh

1485

1284

127

74

Uttar Pradesh

1184

1026

140

18

Telangana

873

660

190

23

Andhra Pradesh

722

610

92

20

Kerala

408

114

291

3

Karnataka

408

280

112

16

West Bengal

392

307

73

12

Jammu And Kashmir

368

292

71

5

Haryana

254

124

127

3

Punjab

245

191

38

16

Bihar

113

69

42

2

Odisha

74

49

24

1

Uttarakhand

46

28

18

0

Jharkhand

46

44

0

2

Himachal Pradesh

39

22

16

1

Chhattisgarh

36

11

25

0

Assam

35

15

19

1

Chandigarh

26

13

13

0

Ladakh

18

4

14

0

Andaman And Nicobar Islands

16

5

11

0

Meghalaya

11

10

0

1

Goa

7

0

7

0

Puducherry

7

4

3

0

Manipur

2

0

2

0

Tripura

2

1

1

0

Mizoram

1

1

0

0

Arunachal Pradesh

1

1

0

0

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