Rajasthan stops rapid testing after China-made kits show invalid results, ICMR asks states not to use them for 2 days

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Tuesday advised states not to use rapid COVID-19 test kits for the next two days, after it received complaints about faulty kits.

Rajasthan government on Tuesday said it has stopped using the China-made rapid testing kits after they delivered inaccurate results. The state's health minister Raghu Sharma said the kits were of no benefit as they gave only 5.4% accurate results against the expectation of 90% accuracy.

The minister said that the ICMR has been informed about the issue.

At the daily government briefing on the coronavirus situation in the country, ICMR's Dr Raman R Gangakhedkar said the council has received complaints from three states and asked all to cease its use until an advisory is issued after their teams carry out field validation of these equipment.

"We have received a complaint from a state yesterday and so far discussed with three states. Too much variations have been reported in results of rapid test kits and RT-PCR kits. We advise states not to use them for the next two days," Gangakhedkar said.

"These kits will be tested and validated in the field by our teams. We will issue a clear-cut advisory in two days. If problems are detected in batches, we will tell the companies for replacement," he said.

In Rajasthan, a committee comprising heads of medicine and microbiology departments at the Sawai Man Singh government hospital set up by the government to examine the accuracy of the kits found that only 5.4% test results were accurate.

"As per the advice of the committee, we have stopped testing from the rapid testing kits," Sharma said.

Rajasthan has reported 1576 COVID-19 cases and 25 deaths. On Friday, the state started conducting tests through rapid testing kits in hotspots, including in Jaipur. The testing has now been suspended following the discovery of faulty results.

Blood samples are tested through rapid testing to speed up the screening and detection of coronavirus patients as they take less time to show results in comparison to the swab-based tests carried out in pathology labs. PCR based test was required for confirmation of a positive result found in the rapid test.

The Rajasthan government had received 30,000 kits through ICMR for free while 10,000 kits were purchased at a cost of Rs 540 plus tax per kit.

The kits are China made, a senior health department official said.