For Three Days, India Tested More Than 1 Lakh People For COVID-19, Mostly Using Domestic Kits

On Monday, India had tested a total of 108,233 samples, which was the highest then and even more than the target of 100,000 samples daily that the Union health ministry has set. On Tuesday too India conducted more tests than its target and examined 101,475 samples in a single day. On Wednesday, the number of samples tested stood at 103,532.

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This is in sharp contrast to just two months ago when India was conducted less than 100 tests per day. But what is even more impressive about India scaling up its COVID-19 testing is that a majority of these are done using domestically manufactured kits. According to reports, India is now procuring about 75% of its COVID-19 testing kits from domestic manufacturers.

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India has been trying to become self-reliant on COVID-19 test kits as the country is expected to have the peak of the infection in June-July when the cases could be over one crore. Recently the World Health Organisation (WHO) has called on all countries to ramp up their testing as the best way to slow the advance of the pandemic.

Like other countries, in the initial days, India too struggled in procuring Covid-19 diagnostic kits and was mostly depended on those imported from Germany or China But it suffered a setback after India was forced to stop using the Chinese made test kits after complaints about its quality and reliability. Things began changing with the domestic industry developing kits, which was a major step towards self-sufficiency in testing.

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Three companies can now manufacture upto 200,000 swabs/day. Despite the lockdown, the production of VTM was upscaled from 500,000 units per year to 500,000 units per day. After expedited approval from the Central Drug Standard Control Organisation, a private company has developed 10 million PCR tests and 5 million viral extraction kits. Another indigenous manufacturer has developed a viral extraction kit. These RT-PCR testing kits should be validated before mass testing.

Initially, these tests were validated only at NIV, Pune. To expedite kits produced by the industry and reduce the burden of NIV, 14 validation centres have been approved.

As many as 71 kits have been evaluated till date and 28 have been approved for use. Out of these, 14 kits were indigenous ones, paving the way for self-sufficiency in testing. In the last 2 months, despite the lockdown, approximately 40 tonnes of testing material was transported in more than 150 flight operations, reaching out to the remotest corners of the nation.

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RT-PCR tests also require handling of viral samples that carries the risk of infecting laboratory personnel. Laboratory operationalisation is a 4-step process that ensures the quality of testing and safety of laboratory staff. The first step is availability of proper infrastructure as per WHO guidelines, including a cabinet to ensure safety from the virus. The next step is to review the documentation using photo and videographic evidence. The third step is to train the staff at a Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratory.

The scale up of testing laboratories started with a network of 106 ICMR-funded Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratories, which already had the capacity to conduct testing for viruses similar to SARS-CoV-2.

The Central government on Tuesday informed the Bombay High Court that state governments can now directly procure rapid antibody test kits from the 13 validated Indian companies to carry out surveillance testing for Covid-19. Earlier, these kits had to be procured through the ICMR.