India likely to release Covid-19 rapid testing guidelines today
New Delhi: The government is likely to release detailed guidelines on the use of point-of-care rapid antibody test (blood test) to diagnose the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
The experts of the task force, created by the government to review the country’s Covid-19 test criteria, have been discussing the protocol for the past three days, including how to conduct the test in high-and-low-risk areas, hotspots, etc. Dr Randeep Guleria, director, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, is presiding over the task force meetings.
“The modalities need to thought through, as conducting rapid tests has its own set of pros and cons. All the parameters need to be considered before guidelines can be issued,” said a member of the taskforce, requesting anonymity.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the country’s apex biomedical research organisation, on Thursday, had issued an interim advisory for the use of rapid antibody test for Covid-19 in light of the growing number of hotspots across India and sought to enforce preventive containment measures on an urgent basis.
“The people living in hotspot areas may be tested using a rapid antibody test. Antibody positives to be confirmed by RT-PCR (real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, one of the most accurate laboratory methods for detecting, tracking, and studying Covid-19) using throat/nasal swab and antibody negatives to be quarantined at home,” said the ICMR advisory.
“It is meant for getting quicker results when a larger number of people need to be tested. It will help in knowing the exact disease burden in a short span of time. However, we recommend confirmatory PCR-based test for all positive results,” said an ICMR official, who didn’t wish to be named.
Initially, the ICMR had sent out an expression of interest in procuring one million anti-body testing kits from manufacturers across the globe but later revised the figure to 0.5 million because of an acute shortage of supply. The first shipment of these kits is expected to arrive by this weekend
