[Letter to the Editor] Insensitive Kits

The deployment of Covid-19 rapid testing kits (RADTs) in Delhi, Gujarat and Rajashthan at a massive scale are an attempt to keep the positivity rate down artificially. The South Korean kits, reported to have a 40% sensitivity, were approved by the ICMR for quick identification of cases in high density populations, especially in containment zones, with a follow up RT-PCR ( the “gold standard”) for those exhibiting Influenza like symptoms.

Instead, the Delhi state government has submitted in the Delhi HC last week that there have been 2-3 RADT tests for every RT-PCR conducted, with no follow up in 96% of those who tested negative. Even if other issues like temperature senstivity of the test and a relatively higher proportion of sample collection errors are ignored, the testing strategy itself seems like a short-term cover-up whilst the virus breeds under the radar.