Mumbai: More than 18,000 Self Test Kits have been used to confirm Covid-19’s ponytail in August in the city.
The use of kits in this house has shown sharp uptick by opening local offices and trains.
A total of 18,324 kits used this month, where people 191 (1.04%) were tested positively.
Usage has soared from the daily average of 100-200 to 350-plus kits in the past few days, said a citizenship official, added it might be due to unlock the sector.
Civil data reflects it also routinely used in hospitals and workplaces too.
MyLab Discovery’s Coviself at the price of Rs 250 for one kit was the first to be launched in June.
It was followed by Abbott Panbio for RS 325 and Merill’s Covifinds Rs 250 per pack in July.
Ti previously reported 85,010 self-tested test kits between June and mid-August in Maharashtra.
BMC has begun to maintain self-test data since August.
Although this test is an antigen that is fast and not as accurate as RT-PCR, they can play an important role because more sectors look back to normal.
“We have recorded its use, especially in the office planning to call employees back to work.
The added point of the test is that they provide information that can be followed up in about 15 minutes,” Abbott spokesman said.
Pharmaceutical companies have used tests to filter their own employees every Monday and Thursday.
A spokesman from MyLab said the response had been “enthusiastic” but a better picture of requests would appear in the following months.
The company does not want to share sales numbers at this time.
Dr.
Shashank Joshi, members, Taskforce Covid, said there were not many downsides with tests as they did in the comfort of home.
“But they are less accurate, so negative results do not rule out infection.” Citizenship officials said they did not have a mechanism to find out how many kits were sold.
It is important to see that people report findings, whether negative or positive, he added.
However, the two representatives of Pharma, said it was not easy to get past reporting steps.
“Every user must download the application and fill their details to continue.
They also cannot access the final report or download it until the details have been filled in the application, which directly communicates the results to ICMR,” MyLab spokesman said.