India receives 5 lakh rapid-antibody testing kits: ICMR

• India received 5 lakh testing kits, including rapid antibody test kits, from two Chinese firms.
  
• Rapid Antibody Test Kits deliver results in 15 minutes.
  
• Earlier, India’s Ambassador to China, Vikram Misri, confirmed that China has dispatched 6.5 lakh Rapid Antibody Tests and RNA Extraction Kits.
  
  

India has just received 5 lakh testing kits, including rapid antibody test kits, from two Chinese firms, says Indian Council of Medical Research. It also said that it can test easily for the next eight weeks with the existing stock.

However, rapid test kits deliver results in 15 minutes and work on blood samples instead of nasal swabs to tell whether a patient has ever been exposed to the virus. However, according to ICMR, these are not suitable for early diagnosis of Covid-19. Yet, it will solve the problem of low testing that India is being accused of. India tested 2.4 lakh samples on April 14 but the ratio is as low as 0.0177% — that’s 177 people per million

India’s Ambassador to China, Vikram Misri earlier said that China has dispatched 6.5 lakh Rapid Antibody Tests and RNA Extraction Kits. Over two million test kits being procured from China will be sent to India in the next 15 days, Misri told PTI on April 16.

Two major consignments of the medical kits were procured from China as part of efforts to step up testing especially in hotspots.

Misri also said that India placed orders to procure 15 million personal protection gear from China for the medical personnel, besides three million testing kits. The orders are being placed with bonafide firms with the help of the Chinese government.

India has extended its ongoing lockdown to fight the coronavirus till May 3. It has reported 414 deaths due to the disease and 12,380 people have been infected by the disease in the country. Now it is busy working on containing the disease to its hotspots, while slowly relaxing restrictions on others with strict social distancing.

See also: Niti Aayog’s Amitabh Kant says lockdown is helping as positive cases are at 4.7% of those tested