Medical personnel puts a swab sample into a vial at a mobile testing center, in India. (Reuters)
NEW DELHI: As the third phase of the national lockdown begins on Monday with relaxations, the government plans to step up its Covid-19 testing capacity to conduct one lakh tests per day each for rapid antibody (blood-based tests) and the more definitive RT-PCR by May-end.
The supply of new rapid test kits would mean the government’s plan to use them, particularly in red zones as well as in low prevalence areas to track trends, will be back on track after an initial lot of Chinese kits failed to function properly. The kits have been embroiled in controversy with ICMR finding them to be unreliable, as they gave a wide variation in results.
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