Experts warn against buying dodgy coronavirus test kits online

Thailand’s Association of Medical Technologists is warning people against purchasing test kits online and examining themselves for Covid-19 coronavirus at home.

A statement, issued today from the AMTT, said some illegal Covid-19 test kits have found their way into Thailand and are for sale on social media. The AMTT warned against buying these kits since they are likely unreliable or might not pass the Thai FDA standard. If the test results are not interpreted by an expert, they might cause increase panic and cause more harm than good, it warned.

What’s more, “blood tests at home, rather than in a clinical environment actually increase the opportunity for the spread of Covid-19, not to mention other pathogens that can be transmitted through the blood, such as AIDS and hepatitis” that could spread to the community quickly and widely.

Several Thai hospitals and the faculty of medicine at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University are working on individual test kits, and expect to see them ready for public use soon.

SOURCE: The Nation