E-commerce giant Rakuten Inc. said Thursday it has halted selling a coronavirus testing kit that has drawn concerns from medical experts over its accuracy, but denied such concerns were behind its pulling the product.

A spokesperson at Rakuten said the Tokyo-based company needs to reassess the governance of the manufacturer, genetic analysis firm Genesis Healthcare Co., after it was notified Tuesday of a change of management. Rakuten has an undisclosed stake in Genesis Healthcare.

"We are not halting sales because of concerns" over the test's accuracy, the spokesperson said.

The self-assessment kit, offered April 20 to corporations in Tokyo and four nearby prefectures, is for people who suspect they have the pneumonia-causing virus but are asymptomatic.

No date has been set for resuming sales of the product, Rakuten official said.

The kit's polymerase chain reaction test determines whether a nose swab sample contains the RNA sequences specific to COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus. Those who test positive still need to consult a doctor for confirmation.

Rakuten said the tests would help companies with difficulties in introducing telework decide whether to allow their employees to commute to offices, such as those in the construction, logistics, retails and healthcare sectors.

Currently, PCR tests for the coronavirus are limited to those who have symptoms such as a fever of 37.5 C or higher for at least four days. The government is expanding testing capacity, but local health care centers face shortages of personnel and other resources to carry out tests.

Experts have doubted the accuracy of the test since the launch of sales, saying it is difficult for users to take nose swab samples.

Masato Maekawa, a professor at Hamamatsu University School of Medicine specializing in laboratory medicine said, has warned that "no test has a 100 percent accuracy rate."

"Testing negative does not prove that a person is not infected," he said. "If an infected person tests negative and commutes, it heightens the possibility of group infections," he said.

==Kyodo

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