More on Covid-19

NEW DELHI: After several delays, India will finally receive the first consignment of rapid testing kits for Covid-19 by this week with one consignment of 3,00,000 kits being cleared by customs in Guangzhou on Wednesday and headed to Delhi on Thursday, said official sources. Over the next couple of weeks, India is expected to receive about 2-3 million kits from China.India has diversified its sources of testing kits, tapping Germany, Korea, France and Israel though health ministry sources pointed out that several of these suppliers also trace their supplies to Chinese firms. After Chinese kits were rejected for being substandard, the Chinese government prepared a list of companies whose products are quality tested and would be eligible for exports. In addition, Chinese customs insist on quality checks and this might be taking time.The rapid testing kits are to be used in hotspot areas where infection rates are high and cases are doubling at a fast rate. Though they test for antibodies and are not as definitive as RT-PCR (polymerase) tests, they add another level of surveillance. The kits will also be used in testing persons with ILI (influenza like illness) symptoms in "cold spots" or areas with low prevalence of the disease to make sure Covid-19 cases are not escaping attention.Indian authorities insisted on their own quality checks, which also delayed shipments. But this was more acceptable to authorities here than taking in sub-standard stuff which would have thrown up other problems in the collection of data or the entire testing exercise. There have also been reports of consignments meant for India, diverted to the US, which has been paying top dollar for these precious items. As the world remains in the grip of the deadly coronavirus pandemic, countries are scrambling to source testing kits.Speaking to journalists in a virtual press conference on Tuesday, Vikram Misri, Indian ambassador to China said, “India would welcome the expediting of the registration of Chinese companies and products by the National Medical Product Authority, especially those already having a number of export orders to India, and have been licensed for sale in India by Indian regulatory authorities.”Answering questions on Tuesday, Dr Raman Gangakhedkar, head of epidemiology and communicable disease, ICMR said “We cannot comment on whether our Chinese consignment of rapid testing kits got diverted to the US or somewhere else because we neither maintain commercial data nor are we manufacturers who would know where our supplies are going. Kits are coming from China, and we have been told some of the kits should reach us by April 15.”