Don’t use rapid test kits from these two companies: ICMR tells States

Indian Council of Medical Research on Monday asked the States not to use the Rapid Antibody test kits made by Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech and Zhuhai Livzon Diagnostics.  “States are advised to stop using these kits procured from the two companies (Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech and Zhuhai Livzon Diagnostics kits) and return them to be sent back to the suppliers,” the ICMR said.

This advisory came after several States raised issues regarding their performance.  “The results have shown wide variations in their sensitivity despite an early promise of good performance for surveillance purposes,” the advisory mentions, adding that the defective kits will be sent back to the aforementioned companies.  

The advisory adds that RT-PCR tests are the best, while antibody tests are to be used merely for surveillance purposes.  

“At the level of ICMR, we have a sufficient amount of kits as far as RT-PCR test is concerned. Not only a sufficient amount of kits are available but we have also parallelly ensured geographical adequacy,” said Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health later.