The Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) has asked the state governments to return the rapid antibody test kits as the results were not satisfactory.

The Centre had procured 5lakh kits from two Chinese companies – Wondfo Biotech and Livzon Diagnostic.These kits were distributed among the states.

The ICMR tested the kits after the states complained of poor test kits provided by the Chinese companies.

As the results from thetests were not satisfactory, the ICMR asked states to stop any future procurementand not to use the ones distributed earlier.

The ICMR said that therapid antibody tests showed a wide variation, which is against the assurancesgiven by the manufacturers.

States have been advised toreturn it to these companies.

In a statement, the ICMR once again said that it advocates the swab RT-PCR test for the virus as it 'is the best way to test and identify the COVID positive case'.