Covid-19 At-home test kits will be available in the market in the next three to four days, said the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Thursday.
Addressing a press conference in Delhi, Dr Balram Bhargava, Director General of the ICMR informed that results for home Covid testing will be processed and delivered through a mobile application.
“Step 1 is that you buy the test kit from a chemist, Step 2 – download the mobile app. Step 3- conduct the test at home. Step 4 – click a mobile image and upload. The test result will be given,” Bhargava explained.
He added, “This ensures patient confidentiality, data is stored in a secure server and it is linked with the ICMR database. This should be available in the market within three to four days. One company has approval for home testing kits, three more are in the pipeline.”
How to do Home Testing for #COVID19?
Hear from Director-General @ICMRDELHI Dr. Balram Bhargava @PMOIndia @drharshvardhan @AshwiniKChoubey @PIB_India @mygovindia @COVIDNewsByMIB pic.twitter.com/hWg6inkI9W— Ministry of Health (@MoHFW_INDIA) May 20, 2021
Pune’s Mylab Discovery Solutions launched India’s first-ever self-testing kit for Covid-19 earlier on Thursday, and the approval has been given by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
On May 18 and 19 across the country, above 20 lakh tests were conducted that is the highest figure ever said the ICMR DG and despite this the positivity rate has dipped to about 13 percent.
“In the middle of February till early March, we were doing about 8 lakh tests per day and have increased that to 20 lakh. Yet our positivity percentage has fallen to 13 per cent from 28 per cent. We have to bring it down to 5 percent,” he said.
By the end of June, it’s an aim to do 45 lakh tests and 25 lakh tests per day by the end of this month, he added.
“More Rapid Antigen Tests should be done because you can get results rapidly and then isolate the patient quickly,” he added.
The Defence Research and Development Organisation’s 2-DG is not a new medicine and has been repurposed, Bhargava further said.
“The DRDO’s 2-DG drug is a repurposed medicine, not a new medicine. It was earlier used for cancer treatment. Its trial results have been given to DCGI,” he said.
Speaking about the state-wise status of Covid in the country, Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary of the Union Health Ministry informed that eight states in the country have more than 1 lakh active cases, nine states have between 50,000-1 lakh active cases and 19 states have less than 50,000 active cases.
According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s data on Thursday, India reported 2,76,070 new Covid-19 cases and 3,874 deaths in the last 24 hours. In the last 24 hours as many as 3,69,077 discharges have been made which is more than the daily cases that are reported.
The cumulative caseload stands at 2,57,72,400, including 2,23,55,440 recoveries, 31,29,878 active cases and 2,87,122 deaths.