GUWAHATI: The Assam government on Thursday started rapid anti-body tests for coronavirus detection following approval from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
“After final nod from ICMR Delhi, we’ve started rapid antibody tests for COVID-19 from Spanish Garden – a containment zone. The government of India has given 9,600 rapid antibody test kits. Test is non-confirmatory yet useful for mass surveillance. Gives results in 15 minutes,” state Health and Family Welfare Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma posted on his official Twitter handle on Thursday afternoon.
The state government had on Tuesday decided to suspend the process of starting ‘rapid tests’ on suspected COVID-19 patients by two days following an advisory by ICMR.
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.
Sarma had on Monday informed 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 will be kept in the medical colleges and civil hospitals of the state for random tests.
