The Indian Council of Medical Researchon Wednesday has given the clearance to the home testing kits and has issued anadvisory on how you can test yourself at home without the supervision ofmedical professional.
“CoviSelf” is one kit that has beenapproved by ICMR for home testing. However, to do the rapid antigen testing, a nasal swab would be required.
CoviSelf test is"authorized for non-prescription home use with self-collected nasal swabspecimens from individuals aged 18 years and older or with adult-collectedsamples from individuals aged 2 years or older.”
The advisory further statedthat the CoviSelf testing kit should not be used indiscriminately. It should beused by only those who develop symptoms and those who are immediate contacts oflaboratory-confirmed positive cases should prefer using home-based testing.
If the test resultscome out positive, Covid patients will not have to go for any additionaltesting as these results would be considered genuine and authentic. But those whotest negative can opt for RT-PCR testing.
How to use the kit
It may be noted here that the kit comes with a manualdescribing the entire procedure. The apex medical body has also shared a fewlinks of reference videos that can be seen for the step by step guidance.
The test kit includes a pouch containing a nasal swab anda pre-filled extraction tube and one test card. However to conduct the test theuser would have to download the mylab app on their mobile phones, where theywill fill out the credentials.
All you have to do is:
1. Do not touch the swab head, insert the swab inside both the nostrils up to2-3 centimeters
2. Roll the swab five times in each nostril
3. Now dip the swab in the tube, pinch the tube at thebottom and swirl the nasal swab 10 times. You have to ensure that swab isimmersed well in the tube
4. Break the swab from the breakpoint and cover the tube
5. Take the test card and add two drops by pressing it
6. Wait for 15 minutes to get the results
It may be noted here that after 15 minutes the alarmwould ring on the application and you can check the result there. However, ifany result appears after 20 minutes of the testing it would be consideredinvalid.