The rampant sale of self-test kits amid rising COVID-19 cases is causing alarm among health officials as they are unable to track, isolate and treat those testing positive.
Officials in Karnataka said people who have mild flu-like symptoms or those who travel frequently are relying on this method, essentially rapid antigen test kits.
Chief Civic Commissioner of Bengaluru Gaurav Gupta acknowledged the problem this poses, both in terms of capturing accurate data and curtailing the spread of the virus.
Though rapid antigen test kits have been in the market for a few months now, sales have gone up only since December, following the Omicron scare.
“We now sell anywhere between 15 and 30 kits every day in each of our shops,” said the regional manager of a pharmacy chain in Bengaluru.
Ravindra Kumar M. J., secretary, Bengaluru Chemists and Druggists Association, said the at-home COVID-19 tests fall in the price range of ₹250-₹350 and are easy to use like pregnancy test kits. “Many people who are travelling frequently or are worried that they have COVID-19 have begun using them,” he said.
But what happens if those who test positive but have only mild symptoms do not isolate themselves for the entire duration or self-medicate?
“During the peak of earlier waves of the pandemic, the government had mandated us to take down details of those buying cold, cough and fever medicines. Such a mechanism may be one of the options to track these cases, but presently there are no such instructions,” Mr. Kumar said.
Chandan Hiremath, a software engineer who is scheduled to travel to Germany next week, used such a rapid antigen test kit to ease his fears and ensure that his travel plans are not derailed. He tested negative. Unless citizens voluntarily report the results and agree to take an RT-PCR test from a certified facility, the government has no way to capture the data. “Had I tested positive, even if I wanted to report it, I wouldn’t know how to contact the civic body,” Mr. Hiremath said.
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, in its recent letter to all the States and the Union territories, recommended the use of self-tests/home tests for symptomatic individuals. But the lack of any mechanism to capture positive cases through home tests, unless individuals report it themselves, is a cause for concern.
A senior civic health official in Bengaluru said home tests had good accuracy in case of a positive result, but could be misleading in case of a negative result. “If a person has COVID-like symptoms, she or he should get an RT-PCR test even if the home test came negative,” he said.
