ICMR gives approval to COVID-19 home testing kit using rapid antigen test; Check how to test yourself?

The Indian Council of Medical Research on May 19, 2021, gave its approval for the first home test for COVID-19. The individuals can buy a kit at the cost of Rs. 250 which can give results within 15 minutes.

The home testing kit is manufactured by Pune-based Mylab Discovery Solutions Ltd. In the advisory released by ICMR, it has been stated that the kit is a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) that must be used only by those who have COVID-19 symptoms or had close contact with an infected person.

As per the statement released by ICMR, indiscriminate testing is not advised and all those individuals who test positive can be considered as true positives and no-repeat testing will be required.

The statement further added that all test positive individuals have been advised to follow the home isolation and care as per the protocol prescribed by ICMR and Health Ministry.

𝐈𝐂𝐌𝐑 𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞𝐝 𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐂𝐎𝐕𝐈𝐃-𝟏𝟗 𝐇𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐓𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐑𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐝 𝐀𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧 𝐓𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬 (𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐬). For more details visit https://t.co/dI1pqvXAsZ @PMOIndia #ICMRFIGHTSCOVID19 #IndiaFightsCOVID19 pic.twitter.com/membV3hPbX

— ICMR (@ICMRDELHI) May 19, 2021

Key Highlights:

•  RAT is typically less sensitive than lab-based RT-PCR tests. It means that they are likely to lead to some false negatives, however, the experts believe that their accuracy increases when the viral load is high- a point when they are also likely to be contagious.

•  The home test kit will be available in the market in about a week’s time and the price of the kit will be Rs. 250 including taxes.

•  The home testing kit of COVID-19 has been designed in a way that is extremely simple to use and it is not biohazard. There is also a disposal bag for safely disposing off the items after use.

How to use the COVID-19 home testing kit?

•  A manual will also come with a kit describing the entire process.

•  The home testing kit will come in a pouch containing a nasal swab, a pre-filled extraction tube, and one test card.

•  For the COVID-19 test, the users will have to download the mylab app on their mobile phones, where the credentials will have to be provided.

•  Without touching the swab head, the user will have to insert the swab inside both the nostrils up to 2 to 3 centimeters and roll the swab five times inside each nostril.

•  Dip the swab in the tube, pinch the tube in the bottom and swirl the nasal swab ten times for ensuring that the swab is immersed well in the tube.

•  The nasal swab has to be broken from the breakpoint. Covering the extraction tube, two drops of the tube have to be added to the test kit by pressing.

•  The user has to wait for 15 minutes for the results to appear and any result appearing after 20 minutes will be considered invalid.

•  There will be two sections on the test card- the test section and the control section. If the bar shows only in the control section, it means that the test is negative. In case, the bar shows up on both the control section and test section, it means that the antigen has been detected and that the test is positive.

•  The user will need to keep the test card under the camera of mobile phones and the app will read the test.

•  The app will ring at 15 minutes and the result of the test will be available on the app.

•  The data on the mobile app will be centrally connected to a secure server that is connected with the COVID-19 testing portal of ICMR.

•  Individuals testing positive will not require additional testing as this self-testing will be considered as true positives.

•  Those who will test negative can opt for RT-PCR testing as such negative but symptomatic individuals can be treated as suspect COVID-19 cases.

Home-based tests in developed countries:

The home-based tests are used in the developed countries such as the UK and the US. Since the RAT tests have high specificity, they can be easily used where the positivity rate is high. As per the officials, positive cases through Rapid Antigen Test are mostly the true positives.

The UK Government offers its citizens two home-free tests a week for encouraging regular testing in order to detect daily cases.