Now, You can self-test Covid at home by taking nasal swabs as per ICMR advisory. The ICMR said that it has approved one kit called CoviSelf for home testing. Only nasal swabs will be required for these RATs.

On Wednesday, the Indian Council of Medical Research issued an advisory for COVID-19 patients home testing where anyone can test himself or herself in absence of any medical professional.

CoviSelf test is “authorized for non-prescription home use with self-collected nasal swab samples from individuals aged 18 years and above or with adult-collected samples from individuals aged 2 years or older”.

The ICMR said in its advisory that this should not be used randomly. Only those people who have symptoms or in immediate contact with laboratory-confirmed positive cases should take for this home-based testing.

How to use the RATs Kit for COVID-19

A manual will come in the kit and will be describing the entire process. The ICMR too gave the video links for ease of users from where they can see the steps to be followed.

Check once the below-mentioned points for more convenience:

1. A Nasal Swab and a pre-filled extraction tube and one test card will come in a kit.
2. User has to download the Mylab App on their Mobile Phone for the test and fill all the details.
3. In detecting COVID Mutants New RT-PCR kit is 97.3% sensitive.
4. Insert the swab inside both the nostrils up to 2 to 3 centimeters without touching the swab head, Roll the swab five times inside each nostril.
5. Dip the swab in the tube, pinch the tube at the bottom and swirl the nasal swab 10 times to ensure that the swab is immersed well in the tube.
6. The swab has to be broken from the breakpoint. Covering the tube, two drops have to be added to the test kit by pressing. One has to wait for 15 minutes for the results to appear. Any result appearing after 20 minutes is considered invalid.
7. The app will ring and the result will be available on the App within 15 minutes.

The ICMR said in its guideline that the data on the mobile App will be centrally connected to a secure server that is connected with the ICMR Covid-19 testing portal. There is no threat to patient confidentiality.

All those who test positive do not require additional testing as this self-testing will be considered as true positives. Those who test negative may opt for RT-PCR testing. Such negative but symptomatic individuals may be treated as suspect Covid-19 cases.

For more info, Visit: https://www.icmr.gov.in/