Maharashtra to procure 9 lakh RT-PCR kits from Chennai

Haffkine Institute, which is responsible for the procurement, had floated a tender on November 21. The first phase will see the delivery of 4.50 lakh kits by end of next week.

Maharashtra has ordered 9 lakh real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing kits, worth ₹4.50 crore from a Chennai-based company. Haffkine Institute, which is responsible for the procurement, had floated a tender on November 21. The first phase will see the delivery of 4.50 lakh kits by end of next week. Of these, Mumbai will receive 1.72 lakh and almost 227,400 kits will be sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune. The family welfare department, also in Pune, will receive 50,200 kits.

A health worker labels a vial for reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test. (Bloomberg)

So far, Maharashtra has conducted over 1.13 crore tests for Covid-19. This includes rapid antigen tests (RAT) which give results within 30 minutes. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR) guidelines, every positive RAT is treated as true positive, while those who show symptoms of Covid-19 but test negative must be re-tested using RT-PCR tests, which are considered the gold standard for Covid diagnosis.

Experts have recommended increasing the number of RT-PCR tests. “Asymptomatic patients don’t show symptoms and as per ICMR, the sensitivity of rapid antigen kits is only 50%. So, thousands of asymptomatic patients are slipping through the loophole in diagnosis, as the civic body is relying more on rapid antigen tests,” said a senior epidemiologist.