Tamil Nadu on Saturday began COVID-19 testing using rapid test kits imported from China as it reported 49 fresh cases infected with coronavirus, taking the tally to 1,372. As many as 82 patients were discharged from various hospitals on Saturday alone, taking the number of COVID-19 discharges in the state to 365.
The state received the first batch of 24,000 kits from its order on Friday, while it got 12,000 kits on Saturday from the Centre. The testing using rapid test kits was conducted in Salem, the home district of Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, as Health Minister C Vijayabhaskar said the blood test would deliver results in half-an-hour.
Since the rapid kits only test for the presence of antibodies, the presence of COVID-19 virus in patients will be confirmed through the RT-PCR test, considered gold standards by doctors and experts. He said Tamil Nadu has been ramping up testing in the past few weeks and it can test up to 6,000 people in a day.
“These kits will be used to test those who came in contact with positive patients and frontline workers. They need to have symptoms. Separately, the state has been testing everyone with influenza-like illness (ILI) and those with respiratory problems,” he told the media.
Vijayabhaskar said Tamil Nadu was making good progress in treating COVID-19 patients as the number of patients getting discharged every day is much lower than the number of those testing positive every day.
As Chhattisgarh Health Minister T S Singh Deo’s statement saying the state was purchasing rapid test kits at Rs 337 plus GST each led to a debate on pricing, Tamil Nadu government said it purchased the kit at the price decided by the Centre.
Though Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation (TNMSC) Dr. P Umanath did not mention the price at which the kits were bought, the purchase order shows the price of one kit is Rs 600. Andhra Pradesh had bought kits from South Korean company at Rs 700 each.
The government had fielded Umanath to take questions on the procurement of rapid test kits to clear the air over the issue with DMK President and Opposition Leader M K Stalin asking the government to reveal the price.
The Health Minister also said, responding to a question, the state has 1.95 lakh RT-PCR kits for testing.
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