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NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India has ordered a pause in the coronavirus antibody test due to concerns about accuracy, health officials said on Wednesday, complicating the fight against the epidemic as its case count draws near. at 20,000.
FILE PHOTO: Vehicles queue in a long traffic jam on the Delhi-Ghaziabad border after local authorities stopped vehicle movement except essential services during a prolonged blockade to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID -19) in New Delhi, India, April 21, 2020. REUTERS / Adnan Abidi
India follows many countries in conducting standard swab tests to determine the presence of the new coronavirus due to limited testing equipment and protective equipment for medical workers.
Earlier this month, health authorities approved blood tests to detect antibodies to the coronavirus as a faster way to bolster the detection effort, and ordered more than half a billion test kits from China.
But the chief of epidemiology at the Indian Council of Medical Research, Dr. R.R. Gangakhedkar said he had asked health authorities to temporarily halt antibody testing due to conflicting results.
“This is a first generation test developed in just three and a half months and needs refinement, variations cannot be ignored,” he said.
Federal health experts have been dispatched to help state authorities validate the equipment.
Some European countries, including Spain, have also complained about the quality of kits supplied by China. A spokeswoman for the Chinese embassy in Delhi said she had seen reports of the tests and that they were contacting the Indian authorities for assistance.
“China attaches great importance to the quality of exported medical products,” Ji Rong said in a tweet.
India has detected 19,983 cases of the coronavirus, after an increase of almost 1,000 cases in one day, according to government data. There have been 640 deaths, still a small number compared to tolls in many other countries, but authorities say infections could increase once a nearly six-week blockade is lifted on May 3.
Conflicting results
Antibody tests don’t always detect infections in the early stages, but they show whether a person had the virus in the past, even if the person had no symptoms of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
In comparison, the swab test determines whether a person currently has the virus by looking for it in secretions from the nose or throat.
The health minister for the western Indian state of Rajasthan said the two tests were in some cases producing conflicting results, raising questions about reliability.
“The kits were used to evaluate patients who have already tested positive for coronavirus,” said Minister of State Raghu Sharma.
“But the quick test kits found them negative, raising questions about the credibility of these kits.”
Anil Vij, the health minister in Haryana state in northern India, said he had canceled the orders given to China and instead asked South Korea to supply them.
Both tests are considered critical in the fight against coronavirus, but antibody tests are a relatively inexpensive and quick means of classifying populations into risk groups and measuring the spread of the virus.
ASSAULT OF DOCTORS
The federal government also announced Wednesday that a new decree will soon be issued under which anyone who attacks health workers could face up to seven years in prison and heavy fines.
The move came after a series of attacks on health workers across the country by people concerned that they were bringing the virus to the community.
This week, a crowd attacked an ambulance carrying the body of a doctor who succumbed to the coronavirus in the southern city of Chennai, believing it was unsafe for the neighborhood.
“Unfortunately, health workers trying to save the country from this epidemic face attacks. Incidents of violence or harassment against them will not be tolerated, ”said information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar.
Here are official government figures on the spread of the coronavirus in South Asia:
* India has reported 19,983 cases, including 640 deaths
* Pakistan has reported 9,747 cases, including 209 deaths.
* Afghanistan has reported 1,176 cases, including 40 deaths.
* Sri Lanka has reported 322 cases, including seven deaths
* Bangladesh has reported 2,948 cases, including 101 deaths
* Maldives has reported 34 cases and no deaths
* Nepal has reported 45 cases and no deaths
* Bhutan has reported six cases and no deaths
Reports of Sanjeev Miglani; Editing by Alex Richardson
