The Indian Council of Medical Research
on Wednesday has given the clearance to the home testing kits and has issued an
advisory on how you can test yourself at home without the supervision of
medical professional.
“CoviSelf” is one kit that has been approved 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 swab specimens from individuals aged 18 years and older or with adult-collected samples from individuals aged 2 years or older.”
The advisory further stated that the CoviSelf testing kit should not be used indiscriminately. It should be used by only those who develop symptoms and those who are immediate contacts of laboratory-confirmed positive cases should prefer using home-based testing.
If the test results come out positive, Covid patients will not have to go for any additional testing as these results would be considered genuine and authentic. But those who test negative can opt for RT-PCR testing.
How to use the kit
It may be noted here that the kit comes with a manual describing the entire procedure. The apex medical body has also shared a few links of reference videos that can be seen for the step by step guidance.
The test kit includes a pouch containing a nasal swab and a pre-filled extraction tube and one test card. However to conduct the test the user would have to download the mylab app on their mobile phones, where they will fill out the credentials.
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All you have to do is:
1. Do not touch the swab head, insert the swab inside both the nostrils up to 2-3 centimeters
2. Roll the swab five times in each nostril
3. Now dip the swab in the tube, pinch the tube at the bottom and swirl the nasal swab 10 times. You have to ensure that swab is immersed 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 alarm would ring on the application and you can check the result there. However, if any result appears after 20 minutes of the testing it would be considered invalid.
