The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on June 25 said that it has invited all the manufacturers who have developed rapid antigen-based detection assays for coronavirus, for validation.

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"ICMR has placed on its website an invitation for expression of interest for validation of rapid antigen detection assays for SARS-CoV-2, wherein all manufacturers who have developed antigen-based assays have been invited for validation," a tweet by ICMR read. "ICMR is looking forward to validate more such kits and recommend deployment of all such PoC tests with good sensitivity and specificity," read its subsequent tweet.

The Council said that increasing testing in the country is the way forward to contain the spread of coronavirus and added that "reliable rapid antigen based detection assays are a promising tool as point of care (POC) tests." "In the present context, ramping up testing for COVID-19 is the way forward to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus infection. In this effort, reliable rapid antigen based detection assays are a promising tool as point of care (PoC) tests," the tweet by ICMR read.

"It is desirable to have such assays for early detection of the virus in field settings with an advantage of short turnaround time. As on date, only one such kit has been validated by ICMR and is being used in field settings," it further said and added that it is looking to validate more such kits and "recommend deployment of all such PoC tests with good sensitivity and specificity.

In a series of tweets, the Council said that over two lakh samples can be tested each day in the country. As per the Union Health Ministry, India has 4,73,105 confirmed COVID-19 cases on June 25. This includes 1,86,514 active cases, 2,71,697 cured and discharged patients. The toll due to the infection stood at 14,894 in the country.