New Delhi: ICMR has instructed all states and union territories not to use rapid test kits for the next two days.
According to ICMR, a complaint has been received from Rajasthan regarding the rapid test, after which testing has been stopped.
Earlier Rajasthan govt has stopped conducting rapid tests for COVID-19 as the accuracy of kits from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is “questionable”.
“We had received rapid testing kits from ICMR and it was used in Rajasthan. We formed a committee of the head of our Microbiology Department and head of our Medicine Department to see if these tests are effective. Its accuracy was supposed to be 90 per cent, but it turned out to be 5.4 per cent,” Sharma said.
“We did not leave any procedural loophole. We kept in mind ICMR guidelines for testing. Still it did not meet the standards, so we stopped the rapid tests. We have written to ICMR that we will not conduct it as the accuracy is questionable. We are waiting for a reply,” he added.
This comes as 52 more COVID-19 cases were reported in Rajasthan, taking the total cases in the state to 1,628, the state health department said on Tuesday.
