Now, Test For Covid-19 At Home With CoviSelf

Pune-based Mylab Discovery Solutions will launch India's first self-use rapid antigen test (RAT) kit for Covid-19 at Rs 250 per pack. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has approved the kit, which has been named CoviSelf. It will be available in the markets in a week's time.

This is how it will work:

The test results will have to be uploaded by home users on their own with the help of an app which is available on Google play store and Apple store. The data in the app of the mobile phone will be centrally captured in a secure server which is connected with the ICMR COVID-19 testing portal, where it will be eventually stored, ICMR said in an advisory.  

This is how it can be procured:

CoviSelf, the self-use test can be used by symptomatic individuals and immediate contacts of confirmed cases as per ICMR guidelines without the need for sample collection by a healthcare professional. The test kits can be purchased without a prescription from local pharmacies and online channel partners. This is expected to ease pressure on already overburdened testing labs and reduce delays in testing, which is more than 72 hours in some parts of the country.

The ICMR advisory says that all individuals who test positive may be considered as true positives and no repeat testing is required. However, all RAT negative symptomatic individuals will be treated as suspect Covid-19 cases and are advised to follow the ICMR and Health Ministry home isolation protocol while awaiting the RTPCR test result. It also warns against indiscriminate testing.