Poor Chinese testing kits delay India's survey data, blur Covid-19 picture

Hundreds of thousands of PPE kits had to be returned to China after inconsistent results, and the govt does not have all the data it should have to decide on how and when to loosen the lockdown

India has lost two weeks in its bid to get a picture of the spread of the coronavirus in its population because of poor Chinese testing kits, a member of a national task force said, complicating a decision on opening up from a lockdown.

The kits were for antibodies to the virus, meaning authorities could determine who had been exposed to it as part of a broad survey to assess its spread.

But hundreds of thousands of kits had to be returned to China after inconsistent results, and the government does not have all of the data it should have to decide