Skip to content
Hindi News, हिंदी समाचार, Samachar, Breaking News, Latest Khabar – Pratirodh

Hindi News, हिंदी समाचार, Samachar, Breaking News, Latest Khabar – Pratirodh

Primary Menu Hindi News, हिंदी समाचार, Samachar, Breaking News, Latest Khabar – Pratirodh

Hindi News, हिंदी समाचार, Samachar, Breaking News, Latest Khabar – Pratirodh

  • Home
  • Newswires
  • Politics & Society
  • The New Feudals
  • World View
  • Arts And Aesthetics
  • For The Record
  • About Us
  • Featured

Coronavirus Antibody Tests Paused After Questions Over Reliability

Apr 22, 2020 | Pratirodh Bureau

Vehicles queue in a long traffic jam at the Delhi-Ghaziabad border after local authorities stopped vehicular movement except for essential services during an extended lockdown to slow the spreading of the coronavirus disease in New Delhi on April 21, 2020

India has ordered a pause in testing for antibodies to the coronavirus because of concern over accuracy, health officials said on Wednesday, complicating the fight against the epidemic as its tally of cases nears 20,000.

India trails many countries in conducting the standard swab tests to determine the presence of the novel coronavirus because of limited testing equipment and protective gear for medical workers.

Early this month, health authorities approved blood tests for coronavirus antibodies as a faster way to bolster the screening effort and ordered more than a half billion testing kits from China.

But the chief of epidemiology at the Indian Council of Medical Research, Dr R.R. Gangakhedkar, said he had asked health authorities to temporarily stop the tests for antibodies because of conflicting results.

“This is a first-generation test developed in just three-and-a-half months and needs refinement, the variations cannot be ignored,” he said.

Federal health experts have been sent to help authorities in states to validate the equipment.

“We have advised the states not to use them for the next two days until we come out with an advisory,” he said.

The antibody tests do not always pick up early-stage infections but show whether a person had the virus in the past, even if the person had no symptoms of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

In comparison, the swab test, known as the RT-PCR-technology swab test, determines whether a person has the virus at that moment by looking for it in nose or throat secretions.

The health minister of Rajasthan said the two tests were in some cases producing conflicting results, raising doubts over reliability.

“The kits were used for testing of patients who have already tested positive for coronavirus,” the state minister, Raghu Sharma, said.

“But the rapid test kits found them negative, which raised questions about the credibility of these kits.”

Both tests are seen as critical in the coronavirus fight, but antibody tests are a relatively cheap, fast means to sort populations into risk groups and measure the spread of the virus.

India has detected 19,983 cases of the coronavirus, after an increase of nearly 1,000 cases in one day, according to the government data.

There have been 640 deaths, still a small number compared with tolls in many other countries but officials say the infections could rise once a nearly six-week lockdown is lifted on May 3.

Big cities of Delhi and Mumbai and their adjoining areas have taken the brunt of the infection, leaving the countryside less affected.

 

Tags: coronavirus, coronavirus antibodies, COVID-19, Indian Council of Medical Research, Pratirodh, RT-PCR-technology swab test

Continue Reading

Previous Coronavirus Cases In India Near 20,000
Next Supply Snags In Race For Affordable Ventilators

More Stories

  • Featured

Earth Losing Ice Faster Today Than In Mid-1990s: Study

2 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

Farmers Ride Flag-Bedecked Tractors In Republic Day Protest

3 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

Job Losses From Virus Four Times As Bad As 2009 Financial Crisis

20 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau

Recent Posts

  • Earth Losing Ice Faster Today Than In Mid-1990s: Study
  • Farmers Ride Flag-Bedecked Tractors In Republic Day Protest
  • Job Losses From Virus Four Times As Bad As 2009 Financial Crisis
  • Troops Had ‘Minor Face-Off’ With China In Sikkim: Govt
  • Factory to Faraway Village: Behind India’s Mammoth Vaccination Drive
  • Police To Let Protesting Farmers Into New Delhi On Republic Day
  • Farmers Allege Conspiracy To Kill 4 Of Them During Tractor Rally
  • Tree Planting Efforts Push Out Pastoralists In The Himalayas
  • A Year After Wuhan Lockdown, A World Still Deep In Crisis
  • Farmers To Step Up Protests After Rejecting Govt Offer
  • Farm Laws: Govt Offers Suspension, Farmers Want Repeal
  • BJP Members Amplify False Claim About Microchip In Vaccine
  • India’s Vac Diplomacy In South Asia Pushes Back Against China
  • ‘Your Land’? Native Americans Question Inaugural Song
  • 5 Killed In Blaze At Serum Institute Of India
  • Nepal To Turn Everest Trash Into Art To Highlight Garbage Blight
  • Biden Rolls Back Trump Policies On Health, Climate, Wall, Muslims
  • Govt Offers To Suspend Implementation Of Farm Laws
  • Massive Security Phalanx In Place To Shield Biden Inauguration
  • A Lotus, Not A Chinese Dragon: Gujarat Changes Name Of Fruit

Search

Main Links

  • Home
  • Newswires
  • Politics & Society
  • The New Feudals
  • World View
  • Arts And Aesthetics
  • For The Record
  • About Us

Related Stroy

  • Featured

Earth Losing Ice Faster Today Than In Mid-1990s: Study

2 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

Farmers Ride Flag-Bedecked Tractors In Republic Day Protest

3 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

Job Losses From Virus Four Times As Bad As 2009 Financial Crisis

20 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

Troops Had ‘Minor Face-Off’ With China In Sikkim: Govt

20 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

Factory to Faraway Village: Behind India’s Mammoth Vaccination Drive

1 day ago Pratirodh Bureau

Recent Posts

  • Earth Losing Ice Faster Today Than In Mid-1990s: Study
  • Farmers Ride Flag-Bedecked Tractors In Republic Day Protest
  • Job Losses From Virus Four Times As Bad As 2009 Financial Crisis
  • Troops Had ‘Minor Face-Off’ With China In Sikkim: Govt
  • Factory to Faraway Village: Behind India’s Mammoth Vaccination Drive
Copyright © All rights reserved. | CoverNews by AF themes.