GUWAHATI: The Assam government has decided to defer the process of starting ‘rapid tests’ on suspected COVID-19 patients following an advisory issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
“In view of the advisory by the Indian Council of Medical Research, the state government has suspended rapid anti-body tests for next two days,” state health and family welfare minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma posted on his official Twitter handle on Tuesday evening.
According to reports, ICMR has, amid complaints about faulty rapid test kits, on Tuesday advised states not to use them for the next two days, saying it will issue an advisory after their teams carry out field validation of the equipment.
Assam had received the first installment of 9600 rapid test kits from ICMR and that the process of using the kits for tests was earlier scheduled to start on Wednesday.
Sarma had on Monday informed the media here that 50 rapid test kits would be used to conduct random tests on the residents of Spanish Garden (the apartment which has been declared a containment zone).
“Similarly, 25 such kits would be sent to Athgaon Kabarsthan Masjid (where Markaz attendees had assembled/stayed) and 250 kits to Lahorighat in Morigaon district (from where some had tested positive) for random testing,” he said.
The rest of the kits would be kept in the medical colleges and civil hospitals of the state for random tests.
