COVID-19: ICMR allows home testing through rapid antigen test kit, here's all you need to know

As of now, ICMR has approved Pune-based Mylab Discovery Solutions' CoviSelfTM (PathoCatch) COVID-19 OTC Antigen LF device, which is a nasal swab RAT test.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on May 19 issued an advisory for COVID-19 home testing using rapid antigen Tests (RATs). Home testing has been advised for symptomatic suspected COVID-19 patients and also for those in immediate contact with confirmed coronavirus cases.

The new advisory comes almost two weeks after the ICMR issued new guidelines for RT-PCR testing for healthy individuals undertaking inter-state domestic travel.

Here is all you need to know about the home-testing guidelines:

- Home testing by RAT is advised only in symptomatic individuals and immediate contacts of laboratory-confirmed positive cases. Indiscriminate testing is not advised.

- Home testing should be conducted as per the procedure described by the manufacturer in the user manual (pictorial and video link of the user manual provided at the end of the copy).

- A home-testing mobile app is available in Google Play and Apple stores and must be downloaded by users. The mobile app is a comprehensive guide of the testing procedure and will provide a positive or negative test result to the patient.

- All users are advised to click a picture of the test strip after completing the procedure with the mobile phone used for downloading the app and user registration.

- Data in the app of your mobile phone will be centrally captured in a secure server, which is connected with the ICMR COVID-19 testing portal, where all data will be eventually stored. Patient confidentiality will be fully maintained.

- All individuals who test positive may be considered as true positives and no repeat testing is required.

- All individuals testing positive should follow home isolation and care as per the ICMR and the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoH&FW) protocol that can be accessed here.

- All symptomatic individuals who test negative by RAT should get themselves immediately tested by RTPCR. This is especially important as RAT is likely to miss few positive cases presenting with a low viral load.

- All RAT negative symptomatic individuals may be treated as suspect COVID-19 cases and are advised to follow the ICMR or MoH&FW home isolation protocol while awaiting the RTPCR test result.

- All results may be interpreted as per the protocol laid down by the manufacturer in the user manual.

- Manufacturer’s instructions must be strictly followed for disposal of the test kit, swab and other materials.

As of now, ICMR has approved Pune-based Mylab Discovery Solutions' CoviSelfTM (PathoCatch) COVID-19 OTC Antigen LF device, which is a nasal swab RAT test.

You can check instructions for use (available in English and Hindi) here and a video demonstration (also available in English and Hindi) here.