Rajasthan ceases use of rapid testing kits as most results invalid

Rajasthan on Tuesday stopped using rapid test kits for coronavirus after receiving invalid and incorrect results for a large number of samples.

Health Minister Raghu Sharma said the kits were giving mere five per cent correct or valid results and a report has been forwarded to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in this regard.

Doctors at the SMS hospital here informed the state government that the rapid testing kits were mostly giving negative results even when conducted on COVID-19 patients who were already tested positive in laboratory tests.

After the report from doctors, the state government has stopped using rapid testing kits and forwarded its report to the ICMR.

"All the tests were conducted as per ICMR guidelines and there was no compromise. If the ICMR also suggests discontinuingthe rapid testing, the kits could be returned," the minister said.

Rajasthan was the first state to start rapid testing on Friday to detect coronavirus carriers in its hotspot areas.

However, it was not a confirmatory test andPCR based tests had to be conducted for confirmation if anyone tested positive in the rapid test.