Shimla: ICMR has approved a COVID self-testing kit manufactured by Mylab Discovery Solutions Limited which will be marketed by the name of Coviself (PathCatch) COVID-19 OTC Antigen LF Device.
This is a ‘COVID-19 Over-The-Counter antigen testing kit’. The test sample used for a testing kit is the person’s nasal swab, a state Govt official statement informed.
“Testing is recommended only in symptomatic individuals and immediate contacts of laboratory confirmed COVID positive cases. The home testing should be conducted as per the procedures described by the manufacturer in the user manual kit,” statement further read.
To aptly use the testing kit, it’s advised to download the home testing mobile App from Google play store and Apple store by the user. The mobile app is a comprehensive guide for testing procedure that provides positive and negative results.
The users would need to click a picture of the test trip after completing the test procedure with the same mobile phone which was used for downloading the mobile app and user registration. The data in the App of the user will be centrally captured in a secure server which is connected with the ICMR Covid-19 testing portal, where all data will be eventually stored.
The results may be in order to be interpreted as per the protocol laid down by the manufacturer in the user manual. All individuals who test positive will be considered as true positives and no repeat testing will be done. All the test positive individuals are advised to follow home isolation guidelines.
It’s essential for the symptomatic individuals who test negative by this kit to get themselves tested by RTPCR in a laboratory. This is important as RAT kits are likely to miss few positive cases which present with low viral load.
