SHILLONG: Following reports of rapid test kits being faulty, the state government too has decided to stop using them for after a direction from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
In his media update on Wednesday, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said the government has stopped using the rapid test kits for COVID-19 but the state would continue to use the normal PCR tests.
Earlier on Tuesday, the state started using 7,500 rapid test kits but the order to keep them in abeyance for two days came on the same day from the ICMR.
Sangma said the rapid test kits are an option and many states and countries across the globe have used them. Conrad maintained that since the beginning, there have been doubts over its accuracy, but in the current situation, the government had to look at the option of using these kits as there was an emergency and the government also backed it up with the PCR test.
He also said the seven members of the family of the 12th positive case, who were tested through rapid test kit on Tuesday, where tested on Wednesday through normal PCR and their results are negative.
Stating that the government needs to look at technology and other options in the unclear situation, he however, made it clear that the government would follow the directives of the ICMR.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Rajasthan government stopped using the China-made rapid testing kits for coronavirus after they delivered inaccurate results.
Two patients in one room
On COVID-19 positive patient being kept together in the same room of a particular institution, the chief minister said, “I would like to clarify that two patients are in one room and one is in a separate room. “The protocols are very clear and in almost every other part of the country and in the world, the protocol allows two positive patients to be in the same room, but the room should be quite big. As this has been followed, we are maintaining those protocols and we are going as per the protocols. The condition of all the three patients is stable”, he said.
