India finds some Chinese coronavirus testing kits are only FIVE PER CENT accurate and scraps order for half a million of them - including Wondfo brand already rejected by Britain

• Kits produced by Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech and Zhuhai Livzon Diagnostics 
• Intended to return results in 30 minutes and to test for virus antibodies
• Officials said tests were giving negative results in people who had had the virus
• Wondfo Biotech is producer of a test which was rejected by UK Government

India has scrapped an order for half a million coronavirus testing kits from China after they were allegedly found to have just a five per cent accuracy rate. 

Some of the 'faulty' kits were already in use in several states but have now been withdrawn by the country's government.  

The rapid testing kits take around 30 minutes to return a result and are intended to detect antibodies in people who may have already had coronavirus. 

They were reportedly produced by Chinese firms Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech and Zhuhai Livzon Diagnostics, according to Indian news outlet NDTV. 

Wondfo Biotech is a

lso the producer of an antibody test which was recently rejected by the British Government for not having a high enough accuracy rate. 

Officials in a number of Indian states reported an accuracy rate of just 5.4 per cent for the tests and found they were returning negative results for people who they knew had had the virus.

It is unclear from reports which of the two tests was shown to have such a low accuracy rate.   

India has scrapped an order for half a million coronavirus testing kits from China after they were found to have just a five per cent accuracy rate, according to reports

China has disputed India's claims about the quality of the tests. 

Chinese embassy spokesman Ji Rong told the BBC on Tuesday: 'The quality of medical products exported from China is prioritised. 

'It is unfair and irresponsible for certain individuals to label Chinese products as "faulty" and look at issues with pre-emptive prejudice.'

However, the BBC said the kits had also failed checks done by the Indian Medical Research Council (ICMR). 

The tests were imported after several Indian states pushed the ICMR to allow them because of concerns that not enough people were being tested.

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The antibody testing kits were reportedly produced by Chinese firms Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech and Zhuhai Livzon Diagnostics, according to Indian news outlet NDTV. Pictured: The test made by Wondfo Biotech

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Officials in a number of Indian states reported an accuracy rate of just 5.4 per cent and found the tests were returning negative results for people who they knew had had the virus. Pictured: File photoOfficials have since told local media that the government 'will not lose a single rupee' from cancelling the huge order because they had not paid in advance. 

India has now reported 29,451 coronavirus cases, with 939 confirmed deaths.

On Monday, it emerged the British government had rejected a test produced by Wondfo Biotech.

It was found to have an 82 per cent accuracy rate at identifying people who have had the disease, according to scientists in the US.

They tested it independently and found it could correctly identify 81 out of 100 people who had had COVID-19 in the past, and would give fewer than one in 100 false positives among people who hadn't. Firms around the world have been racing to produce antibody testing kits amid the coronavirus crisis but concerns have been raised about how accurate they are.

Earlier this month, a British professor told the UK Government that none of the antibody tests which he had so far seen were any good.    

Professor Sir John Bell, from Oxford University, said the testing kits he had examined so far 'have not performed well' and 'none of them would meet the criteria for a good test'.  

He said: 'We see many false negatives... and we also see false positives. This is not a good result for test suppliers or for us.' 

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It is unclear from reports which of the two tests was shown to have such a low accuracy rate. Pictured: A health worker checks the body temperature of the rider of a moped in India

The UK Government also paid an estimated £16million to two Chinese companies for two million antibody tests which officials then found were not accurate enough to be rolled out.   

Officials pounced on an early offer of potential tests produced in China with the New York Times reporting officials agreed to pay approximately $20 million to secure the home testing kits. 

However, when the antibody tests were put through their paces they were found not to be sufficiently accurate and as a result could not be used.

It comes after it emerged that Muslims in India are bearing the brunt of the country's coronavirus crisis, with the Hindu-nationalist government blaming an Islamic missionary for a surge in cases.

Politicians in the ruling Bharatiya Janata party were quoted by newspapers and TV accusing Muslims of 'corona terrorism' after the country's largest cluster of cases was identified at an Islamic compound in New Delhi.

The joint secretary for India's health ministry, Lav Aggarwal, repeatedly called out the congregation in daily news briefings.

There has also been a reported surge in violence, business boycotts and hate speech towards the minority in the world's second most populous country. 

WHY IS IT DIFFICULT FOR SCIENTISTS TO MAKE AN ANTIBODY TEST SPECIFIC FOR SARS-COV-2? 

Coronaviruses invade cells through so-called 'spike' proteins, but those proteins take on different shapes in different coronaviruses. 

The University of Texas at Austin were able to map the spike proteins of SARS-CoV-2 in mid February - a breakthrough for developing a vaccine.

It was also a huge step forward for scientists developing an antibody test.

There are questions about which antigens (proteins) are best for an antibody test target, 'although the viral spike protein is universally perceived as the obvious candidate', Anna Petherick, a lecturer in public policy at University of Oxford, wrote in The Lancet.

Which part of the spike protein to use is less obvious, and is causing difficulty in creating a reliable antibody test.

'There is a lot hanging on the uniqueness of the spike protein,' Ms Petherick said.

'The more unique it is, the lower the odds of crossreactivity with other coronaviruses— false positives resulting from immunity to other coronaviruses. 

'The most similar of these is severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), which led to the SARS outbreak of 2002.

'But another four coronaviruses cause the common cold, and ensuring there is no cross-reactivity to these is essential. '

A team at New York’s Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (NY, USA), has published details of antibody tests that use either the whole spike protein.

Others, such as Peng Zho at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China, who was part of the team that sequenced SARS-CoV-2’s genetic code, have used the nucleocapsid protein and the spike protein.

'[The] nucleocapsid protein is the most abundant viral protein, which means it’s easy to detect. But we also chose spike protein because it’s very specific,' Dr Zho said. 'Actually, for coronavirus, the most divergent protein is [the] spike protein.'

Officials have since old local media that the government 'will not lose a single rupee' f

rom cancelling the huge order because they had not paid in advance. 

India has now reported 29,451 coronavirus cases, with 939 confirmed deaths.

On Monday, it emerged the British government had rejected a test produced by Wondfo Biotech.

It was found to have an 82 per cent accuracy rate at identifying people who have had the disease, according to scientists in the US.

They tested it independently and found it could correctly identify 81 out of 100 people who had had COVID-19 in the past, and would give fewer than one in 100 false positives among people who hadn't. 

Dr Hilary warns against Covid-19 testing kits being sold to public

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