Rajasthan Shows 5.4% Accuracy; States to Stop Antibody Tests: ICMR

Advise All States to Stop Antibody Testing for Two Days: ICMR

“We advise all states to not use the tests for the next two days, and then we will give a clear cut advisory,” said the ICMR.

Dr R Gangakhedkar of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said that they will be validating the antibody kits on field trips as states have complained about issues with detection of positive samples.

Dr R Gangakhedkar, ICMR“We got a complaint from one state saying that there is an issue in detection, the kits were detecting less. So we asked two other states and found out that the positive samples from RTPCR have a lot of variation - from 6 to 71 per cent. This is not good and needs to be investigated.”

In Tuesday’s press brief, the Union Health Ministry and ICMR announced that they have asked all states to stop antibody tests for the next two days.

“This is a first-generation test and variation is normal as results are in a crude form. It’s just been 3.5 months of this disease and we need to refine tests,” said the ICMR. Rajasthan was reportedly the state with the original complaint.

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Dr R Gangakhedkar, ICMR“We will go to the field for the next two days and examine the kits from their lots to validate them. This will happen in the field and not the lab. We advise all states not to use the tests for the next two days, and then we will give a clear cut advisory.”

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