Centre cancels Chinese COVID-19 test kit orders, says no payments made

After the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) rejected the test kits made by two Chinese companies Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech and Zhuhai Livzon Diagnostics, the Indian government informed that it made no payments for the same.

The ICMR asked states and hospitals to stop using the kits made by the two companies.

"Due process followed (not going for procurement with 100% advance amount), GoI (Government of India) does not stand to lose a single rupee," an official statement claimed.

The complaints about the accuracy of the test kits came from several states including West Bengal and Rajasthan. They claimed that the kits had only 5.4 per cent accuracy.

Opposition parties had questioned the government's purchase as well.

This came as the government earlier this month procured around 5 lakh rapid anti-body test kits and RNA Extraction Kits and distributed across the country following recommendations from the ICMR that every resident in coronavirus hotspots - or areas with a large number of cases - will be tested for the virus.

Following the complaints from sources, the IMCR directed states not to use the rapid testing kits.

In its clarification on Monday, the Centre said not only had it not paid in advance for any of the anti-body test kits, it had conducted a tender process that received bids between Rs 1,204 and Rs 600 and finally selected the lowest quote.

Meanwhile, the total coronavirus cases in India breached the 28000-mark and reported 886 deaths so far.