Abbott said on Monday that the COVID-19 home test kit for detection of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in adults and children with or without symptoms will be available in India for Rs 325 for a single test kit pack.
Abbott said in a statement that the business will supply millions of Panbio COVID-19 fast antigen tests for self-use to relieve the pressure on healthcare systems in urban and rural India.
These tests will be made available to ramp up testing of symptomatic and asymptomatic persons, as well as contacts of confirmed coronavirus cases, according to the current ICMR advice on self-use.
Former ICMR Director-General Nirmal Kumar Ganguly stated, “Scaling access to easy, accurate, and fast testing can speed up the country’s readiness and minimize community spread.”
He went on to say that self-testing at home gives people the ability to be the first line of defense against disease transmission. Abbott will offer self-tests for use at home, supported professional testing at the point of care and laboratories, and workplace testing to help people return to work with a sense of normalcy, according to the company.
Sanjeev Johar, divisional vice president of Abbott’s rapid diagnostics business in Asia Pacific, stated, “Rapid antigen testing is vital in the fight against COVID-19, and Abbott is delivering a number of diagnostics solutions at a critical juncture in the pandemic.”
He went on to say that self-testing is a tried and true strategy that, when combined with public health standards and vaccination deployment, adds an extra layer of protection.
“We expect to provide 7 million test kits in our first phase by the end of July, with the capacity to bring millions additional test kits to meet the country’s demands. Abbott will be able to scale up manufacturing as needed to satisfy India’s testing demands, thanks to its large global supply network and manufacturing capabilities “Abbott stated the following. It stated that a single-test kit pack of Abbott Panbio COVID-19 antigen self-test costs Rs 325, a pack of four costs Rs 1,250, a pack of ten costs Rs 2,800, and a pack of twenty costs Rs 5,400.
“The test kits will be distributed across India, in both urban and rural areas, using both online and offline distribution methods. Our goal is to increase availability and reach out to more than 80% of India’s population “Abbott stated the following.
