Coronavirus at-home rapid test kits are being sold on Chinese social media app WeChat
ABCCoronavirus rapid self-testing kits are being advertised on a Chinese social media platform in Australia — promising results in as little as 15 minutes — as the country grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic. In China, at-home coronavirus test kits went viral on WeChat earlier in March, with China's National Medical Products Administration quickly debunked the rumours of self-testing and claimed no authorised at-home test kits were allowed. China's Xinhua News Agency last month also warned Chinese citizens not to buy so called self-testing kits online, adding the "improper handling of used testing equipment may also bring public health risks". While many medical experts welcome the Government's effort to push for a faster and simpler pathology test on COVID-19, there are still concerns around the efficacy of the rapid test kits in principle. "The question is about how effective they are, in terms of reliability, in terms of things like what we call a false negative, which is it picks up the test and it's telling you it's negative, but in fact it's actually positive," Australian Medical Association South Australia president Chris Moy said.