COVID-19 Rapid Test Kit Order Delayed
Due to the increase in COVID-19 cases, the ICMR has placed an order of 5 lakh Rapid Test Kits for screening of patients.
There are two types of COVID-19 test kits.
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Rapid Test Kits (RTKs)
These test the blood samples in 30 mins to determine if the person is positive or negative. It is the fastest way to test suspected persons. RTKs are very helpful to quickly test patients in areas where the COVID-19 has spread.
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RT-PCR Kits.
RT-PCR also tests samples but the results take upto 5 hours.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has placed an order of 5 lakh RTK kits to increase testing in India and make sure the virus doesn’t spread. The kits were supposed to arrive in India on April 5, and then April 10, will now be here by April 15. The Chinese government allows only 5-6 companies to manufacture & export these kits. The reason for the delay is that checking the quality of these kits takes time.
Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary K Shanmugam said that China had diverted kits meant for India to the US.The ICMR has placed an order of 4.5 million RTKs on 11th April. It will be delivered in batches. The first batch will be delivered on 1st May and the last batch will be delivered on 31st May. HLL Lifecare Limited, is a private company. Their RTK is approved by ICMR. HLL Lifecare Limited will start manufacturing kits this week and may be able to deliver some to the government by the end of the week.There are other companies that can manufacture these kits but the materials needed to make these kits are imported from China. China has banned export of some of these materials.
