The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has approved Delhi-based Oscar Medicare`s indigenous point-of-care (POC) rapid test kits, which is perhaps the only firm to have received funding from the department of biotechnology.

After the fiasco with Chinese `faulty` kits and government cancelling their licences, the focus has been mainly on the `gold standard` RT-PCR (real-time polymerase chain reaction) testing, and antigen testing.

The government has not allowed POC testing for the novel coronavirus yet, as antibody tests should not be used as the sole basis to diagnose the disease.

Oscar Medicare, one of the largest manufacturers of pregnancy kits, also makes HIV, HCV, dengue and malaria POC diagnostic kits at its three plants.

Industry experts say there are a few rapid POC kits in the market, and sold online, but their reliability is under a cloud.