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 Maharashtra4666
3862
572
232
Delhi2081
1603
431
47
Gujarat1939
1737
131
71
Rajasthan1576
1346
205
25
Tamil Nadu1520
1046
457
17
Madhya Pradesh1485
1284
127
74
Uttar Pradesh1184
1026
140
18
Telangana873
660
190
23
Andhra Pradesh722
610
92
20
Kerala408
114
291
3
Karnataka408
280
112
16
West Bengal392
307
73
12
Jammu And Kashmir368
292
71
5
Haryana254
124
127
3
Punjab245
191
38
16
Bihar113
69
42
2
Odisha74
49
24
1
Uttarakhand46
28
18
0
Jharkhand46
44
0
2
Himachal Pradesh39
22
16
1
Chhattisgarh36
11
25
0
Assam35
15
19
1
Chandigarh26
13
13
0
Ladakh18
4
14
0
Andaman And Nicobar Islands16
5
11
0
Meghalaya11
10
0
1
Goa7
0
7
0
Puducherry7
4
3
0
Manipur2
0
2
0
Tripura2
1
1
0
Mizoram1
1
0
0
Arunachal Pradesh1
1
0
0
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