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COVID-19 TESTING MOVED SWIFTLY FROM RT-PCR TO HOME-BASED KITS AS THE THIRD WAVE CAME AND PETERED AWAY

- NEETU CHANDRA SHARMA

THE MUCH-FEARED THIRD wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, borne by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, came, saw, but didn’t conquer. And thank goodness for that. But while the wave created barely a ripple, it did bring in a new dynamic into the testing ‘industry’, one that looks set to stay with us for the foreseeable future. And that is the rise of home-based rapid antigen test (RAT) kits as a significant and more private—albeit not quite as effective—alternative to the now ubiquitous RT-PCR test. RAT is a point-of-care test that is used for quick diagnosis of an infectious disease, at home or in an emergency situation before admitting a patient into a hospital. The “at home”, “innovative” and “quick” Covid-19 testing idea is being sold smartly offline and online, giving rise to an entirely new market in the Indian pharmaceutical and diagnostics industry. In May 2021, the Indian Council of Medical

Research (ICMR) had approved a home-based RAT kit manufactured by Mylab Discovery Solutions, Pune. Since then, Abbott, Tata Medical and Diagnostics, and Trivitron Healthcare have also entered into the home-based Covid-19 testing business, and several others are planning to jump in soon. This helped ramp up the testing numbers during the Omicron wave in December-February. As on March 10, 2022, India had conducted 775,336,978 tests out of which 441,517,381 were RTPCR and 333,819,597 were RATs, including 594,541 home-based RATs, according to the ICMR. In fact, according to the Union health ministry, more than 200,000 home test kits were used in the first 20 days of January 2022—when Omicron was at its peak—in contrast to just 3,000 since May 2021, when the ICMR approved Covid-19 home tests.