Rapid test kits: Two Indian firms begin production

New Delhi, Apr 16: Two Indian companies have begun production of the anti-body based Rapid Test Kits for COVID-19. The production began after the Central Drugs Standard Control organisation issued manufacturing licences.

This comes at a time when the Indian government ordered the kits from China. The kits from China are expected to reach today. The Indian Council of Medical Research has validated the samples of the kits manufactured by three companies- Vanguard Diagnostics, HLL Lifecare and Voxtur Bio Limited. HLL and Voxtour have begun production and Vanguard would start within three weeks.

These kits are essential as they would provide results in 30 minutes. The RT-PCR being used currently provide results only after 5 hours. The HLL which began production on April 14 aims at providing 1,00,000 test kits by April 20.