Karnataka gives thumbs up to the approval of Covid Home Test Kits

Bengaluru: On Wednesday, the ICMR issued an advisory for the use of a home testing rapid antigen testing kit ‘Coviself’. It’s is developed by Mylab Discovery Solutions for those who have symptoms of Covid-19.

Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar tweeted, “Using the kit people can collect their own nasal swab and check results within minutes.” He added that it will immensely aid in early and immediate detection which is key to the treatment.

The ICMR has clearly said that those with symptoms of Covid and who have been in recent contact with infected people should use the testing kit. The top medical body said, “Indiscriminate testing is not advised.”

The ICMR 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 RT PCR.”

To use this kit, people will have to install a mobile app that will guide them through the testing procedures and will give positive or negative result to the patients.

The ICMR said, “Presently, CoviSelf Covid19 OTC Antigen LF device manufactured by Mylab Discovery Solutions, Pune, Maharashtra has been validated and approve.”

It has advised all the users to take a picture of the test strip once the testing is done. Data in the app of the mobile phone will be centrally captured in a secure server that is connected with the ICMR Covid-19 testing portal, where the information will be stored.It has assured that confidentiality will be maintained fully.

These home test kits will come as a result of the medical infrastructure. Over the last 24 hours, 20,08,296 samples have been tested.

The figures indicate that testing in India is not being done at full capacity. The country can conduct 33 lakh tests in a day. But, the daily average is 18 lakh up from 10 lakh on April 1. This indicates that nearly 45% of the country’s testing capacity lies unused.