ICMR issued an advisory for COVID Home Testing using RATs

The department of the Indian Council of Medical Research issue an advisory for Home Testing using the Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) on Wednesday.

1. Home testing by RAT has advised only in symptoms individual contact of laboratory-confirmed positive cases.

2. Indiscriminate testing is not allowed.

3. Home testing should be conducted as per the procedure described by the manufacturers in the user manual.

4. The home testing mobile app is available in the Google Play Store Apple Store and must be downloaded by all users.

5. The mobile app is a comprehensive guide of the testing procedures and will provide positive or negative test results to the patient.

6. All users are advised to click a picture of the test strip after completing the test procedure will with the same mobile phone which has been used for downloading the mobile app and user registration.

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

8. Patient confidentially will be fully maintained.

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

10. All test-positive individuals are advised to follow home isolation and care as per the ICMR and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare protocol which can be accessed at: https://www.icmr.gov.in/ chomecare.html

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

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

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

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