Covid-19: BMC extends tender deadline for 90,000 more RT-PCR test kits for Mumbai

To overcome any shortage of Covid-19 test kits in Mumbai in the future, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has planned to procure 90,000 real-time reverse

To overcome any shortage of Covid-19 test kits in Mumbai in the future, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has planned to procure 90,000 real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test kits. A tender in this regard, floated by the BMC in September, was extended until the end of October.

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Till September, the Centre was making these kits available to municipal bodies. Since then, the Maharashtra government procured 12.5 lakh kits from a private company. BMC had planned to procure them from the state, but most of the test kits were found to be faulty.

As of now, the civic body says that their stock of RT-PCR test kits will last till November 15. Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner (health), said, “We have an adequate supply of RT-PCR test kits as of now. We are taking a weekly review of the kits that we have and ensuring that there is no shortage. We have conveyed it to the public labs in the city to project if there will be a shortage and inform us. Simultaneously, the tendering process to procure RT-PCR test kits will be completed.”

Apart from RT-PCR test kits, the BMC also uses rapid antigen test kits to identify Covid-positive patients, with results delivered in less than 30 minutes. However, these tests are prone to give false negatives compared to RT-PCR tests. Nearly 70% of the daily tests conducted in the city currently are being done through RT-PCR, and rapid antigen test kits have taken a back seat following criticism over false negatives and unreliability.

Since September, BMC conducted between 8,000- 15,000 Covid-19 tests daily, of which 30-40% were through rapid antigen testing. Civic officials said that once the procurement of new kits is completed, the daily test count will reach 20,000. According to data released by the civic body, so far, the BMC has conducted 13.54 lakh tests across the city.