Chinese companies stand by the quality of their coronavirus testing kits

Two Chinese pharma companies that supplied 5.5 lakh rapid testing kits to India for Covid-19 said they are ready to cooperate with Indian agencies probing allegations of poor accuracy of their products.

In the rapid antibody tests, blood is drawn from suspected patients and it takes around 15-30 minutes to give results, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

India has been facing a severe shortage of testing kits in view of rising coronavirus cases.

At present, government hospitals in India are using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests to detect coronavirus from throat or nasal swab samples. These take around five to six hours to show the results.

The death toll from Covid-19 rose to 775 across India and the number of cases climbed to 24,506 this morning, the health ministry said in an update.

In separate statements, Guongzhou Wondfo Biotech and Livzon Diagnostics said they follow strict quality control of their products, asserting that specified guidelines must be followed in the storage and usage of the kits to get accurate results.

India's apex medical research body Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Tuesday advised states to stop using the rapid antibody test kits procured from China till it examines their quality, following complaints that they are not fully effective in detecting coronavirus.

Last week, India procured 5.5 lakh rapid antibody test kits from these two Chinese firms; Guongzhou Wondfo Biotech supplied 3 lakh test kits, Livzon Diagnostics delivered 2.5 lakh.

Livzon Diagnostics said in a statement: "We are shocked to receive negative reports from India related to poor accuracy of Covid-19 rapid testing kits made in China including our brand. We have shown great concern on this issue and we are willing to coordinate with the related government departments for investigation."

The company said it fulfilled all required quality control standards prescribed by Chinese government and that the company has been exporting the product to at least 10 countries including Brazil, Peru, Columbia and several European nations.

"The test kits should be stored at a temperature between 2 and 30 degree celsius and should not be frozen... If the storage temperature is too high, the accuracy of the test may be influenced," it said.

In a separate statement, Guongzhou Wondfo Biotech said the company has been exporting the kits to more than 70 countries and that the product was approved by the ICMR through National Institute of Virology in Pune.

The statements by the two companies were released to the media by an official of the Chinese embassy here.