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The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has approved the second home-based Rapid Antigen Test kit, developed by Chicago-based Abbott Rapid Diagnostics Division. The PanBio Covid19 Antigen Test Device, the self-use kit has been given provisional approval till July 5. After that, the pricing of the kit will be declared by the company.
ICMR had earlier given its approval to the CoviSelf test kit by Pune-based Mylab Discovery Solutions, which was priced at ₹250 per kit.
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Priced at ₹250 a test, results can be got in just 15 minutesHome-testing mobile app
The ICMR has already issued an advisory on the use of self-test kits. RAT is advised only in symptomatic individuals and immediate contacts of laboratory-confirmed positive cases. The home testing mobile app available in Google play store and Apple store has to be mandatorily downloaded by all users. The mobile app is a comprehensive guide of the testing procedure and will provide a positive or negative test result to the patient.
As per the guidelines, all users need to click a picture of the test strip after completing the test procedure with the same mobile phone used to download the mobile app and user registration.
“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. This is especially important as the RATs are likely to miss few positive cases presenting with a low viral load,” according to the advisory.
Meanwhile, all RAT negative symptomatic individuals may be treated as suspect Covid-19 cases and need to follow the ICMR and Health Ministry home isolation guidelines while waiting for the RTPCR test result. In addition, manufacturer’s instructions must be strictly followed for disposal of the test kit, swab and other materials, said the advisory.
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