Things you should know about Covid self-testing kit

Chennai: The Indian Council of Medical Research has issued an advisory for Covid-19 home testing where an individual will be able to test himself or herself without the presence of any medical professional.

Giving details of how to conduct this test, the ICMR said that it has approved one kit called CoviSelf for the purpose of home testing. Only nasal swab will be required for this rapid antigen testing.

The ICMR has made it clear that only symptomatic individuals and immediate contacts of people who tested positive in the laboratory should use the home test kit.

“Home testing by RAT is advised only in symptomatic individuals and immediate contacts of laboratory confirmed positive cases. Indiscriminate testing is not advised,” the county’s apex health research body said.

Initially, the Mylab CoviSelf app should be downloaded from the Google Play Store and Apple store. The mobile app is a comprehensive guide of the testing procedure.

According to the instructions from the MyLab manual, the kit contains a pre-filled extraction tube, a nasal card, a test swab and a biohazard bag. Initially, personal details will need to be filled in to the CoviSelf app and a QR code on the test device should be scanned to link to your credentials.

The sterile swab kit should be inserted into both nostrils (2-4 cms until resistance is met) and rolled about five times to make sure that adequate sample is collected.

The swab is then dipped into the pre-filled extraction tube, and two full drops of the mixture should be added to the sample well of the test device. Wait for about 15 minutes.

There are two sections on the device—the Control ‘C’ and the Test ‘T’. If a line appears in both the ‘C’ and ‘T’ sections, the result is positive. If a line appears only in the ‘C’ section, the result is negative.

Presently, CoviSelf Covid19 OTC Antigen LF device manufactured by Mylab Discovery Solutions, Pune, Maharashtra has been validated and approved, said ICMR.

It added that all users are advised to click a picture of the test strip after test procedure and data in the app of the mobile phone will be centrally captured in a secure server which is connected with the ICMR Covid-19 testing portal, where the information will be stored. However, it assured that patient confidentiality will be ‘fully maintained’.