India approves first-ever ‘Self Covid Test’ kit: Results within 15 minutes at home

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has approved the Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) kit developed by Pune-based MyLabs Discovery Solutions for at-home testing of Covid-19.

The RAT kit can be used at home and is advisable only to symptomatic individuals and immediate-contacts of laboratory-confirmed positive cases, the ICMR said.

The medical research body has also advised against the indiscrimate use of the test.

Each kit will be provided with all testing materials, instructions to use (IFU) leaflet, and a biohazard bag to safely dispose of it after testing.

The test is designed to be done using a nasal swab (not the deep nasopharyngeal swab) to reduce the discomfort.

CoviSelf will provide results in 15 min.

Those who test negative and continue to experience COVID-like symptoms should seek follow-up care from their healthcare provider.

The ICMR asked users to download the home testing mobile application available on Google Play Store and Apple store.

“The mobile app is a comprehensive guide of the testing procedure and will provide a positive or negative test result to the patient,” it said. “All users are advised to click a picture of the test strip after completing the test procedure with the same mobile phone, which has been used for downloading the mobile app and user registration.”

The company will start shipping out tests within a few days. Mylab current production capacity is 70 lakh tests per week and plans to increase its capacity to 1 crore tests per week within 14 days.

Mylab had launched India’s first locally developed RTPCR test a year ago.