Coronavirus: Milk vendors, delivery workers and police personnel among first to get tested with antibody kits

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Milk vendors, delivery boys and policemen were among the first set of people the state identified on Tuesday for testing with the antibody test kits.

The Centre had dispatched 11,400 kits to Karnataka to test people for the Covid-19 infection.

The state government has sent 200 to the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (Nimhans) for validation.

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Besides those in public contact like milk vendors and delivery boys, the state also identified people in four other categories such as healthcare workers in Covid hospitals, non-Covid hospitals’ ICU staff, those in quarantine and those aged above 60 with diabetes, hypertension, lung diseases, cancer, tuberculosis and HIV.

Wondfo, one of the two companies approved by the Pune-based National Institute of Virology, will send one lakh test kits on Thursday, while the other company Imperial Life Sciences would deliver 50,000 kits on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Tuesday asked states to refrain from using the rapid antibody testing kits for two days until it runs the field test to fix the faults.

Dr C N Manjunath, director, Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research, the nodal officer for lab testing in the state’s Covid-19 task force, told DH that the state will take more than the 48-hour stipulation to validate the kits and would therefore not do the tests any time before that.

“Nimhans requires 25 serum samples from Covid-19 patients who tested positive after the 14-day quarantine period. Dr V Ravi, head of department, neuroviology, Nimhans, feels the antibodies will be high in these patients. Since the samples are sourced from patients in Bengaluru and Mysuru and will reach Bengaluru only on Tuesday night, validation will take time,” he said.

Post-validation, the test kits will be used in a pilot phase. Dr Manjunath said for every red zone a corresponding green zone will also be tested. “For instance, alongside Bengaluru, a hotspot red zone, tests will also be held in Shivamogga, a green zone. Similarly, Belagavi, a red zone, is paired with Yadgir, a green zone,” he said. After the pilot testing phase, the kits will be used on a mass scale in five districts — Bengaluru, Mysuru, Kalaburagi, Chikkaballapur and Belagavi — all of which are hotspots.