Haryana govt gets 25,000 rapid test kits from South Korean company

The Haryana government on Monday said it has received the first lot of 25,000 rapid test kits from SD Biosensor, a South Korean bio-diagnostic company.

"For fast detection of COVID-19 positive cases, SD Biosensor, a South Korea-based company which also has a presence in Industrial Model Township at Manesar, Gurugram, has developed a rapid test kit priced at Rs 380 per kit, which is Rs 400 cheaper than the rapid test kit imported from China.

"This kit will benefit Haryana as well as other states," a Haryana government statement issued on Monday evening said.

It said the approval for the production of rapid test kits (RTKs) in the state has been fast-tracked and granted to the company in a short period of 15 days.

The statement said that usually the approval takes more than five months as it needs validation from institutions like the National Institute of Virology, Pune following which it is sent to the Indian Council of Medical Research and then to the Drug Controller General for an approval for production.

"Today the company has handed over the first lot of 25,000 kits to the Haryana Government, it said.

"SD Biosensor aims to produce around 10 million rapid test kits in a month and is now ramping up their production to manufacture approximately 1 to 1.5 million rapid test kits in the next few days, to cater to the huge demand for rapid testing kits due to the intensity of the situation," it said.

Earlier, Health Minister Anil Vij had said 19,663 teams have been constituted to visit every household in the state to conduct door-to-door screening of people.

"If anyone shows COVID-19 symptoms like fever, cough, cold, then their samples will be taken," he said.

The availability of RTKs is likely to help the efforts of the state government to screen large segment of the population.