States advised not to use rapid testing kits for two days: Govt

New Delhi, Apr 21: After several states reported issues, the government on Tuesday advised them to not use rapid tests for the next two days, with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) set to send field teams to check some of these kits.

"States advised not to use rapid testing kits for two days. A lot of variations, kits will be tested and validated by on-ground teams and we will give advisory in the next 2 days," said R Gangakhedkar, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

Earlier in the day, the Rajasthan government stopped using the China-made rapid testing kits for coronavirus after they delivered inaccurate results.

The state's health minister Raghu Sharma said the kits gave only 5.4 per cent accurate results against the expectation of 90 per cent accuracy and therefore the kits were of no benefit, adding that the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has been informed about the issue.