Punjab takes to rapid antigen testing, 2 lakh screened in 15 days

CHANDIGARH: With Punjab’s daily sampling for covid-19 tests crossing the 30,000 mark this week, Rapid Antigen Tests have emerged as the key tool in the hands of the state authorities in detecting the infection. The antigen tests are now numbering 15,000 per day.

Over the past 15 days, the state has conducted 2 lakh antigen tests, of which 8,000 have been positive, with a positivity rate of around 4%, the health department said. By September 14, Punjab has conducted around 14.1 lakh tests, of which around 3.5 lakh (25%) were conducted in the first two days of this week.

By August-end, the state was carrying out 1,500-2,000 antigen tests per day, but it has reached 15,000 a day now, with state authorities procuring 5 lakh testing kits from private companies that the Centre has listed as per Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines.

Even as questions remain on the efficacy of these tests as the kit has a great tendency to show “false negative”. To get over the issue, the ICMR has recommended carrying RT-PCR tests on suspected negative patients.

On balance, however, state authorities dealing with the pandemic say that antigen testing has proved quite handy in saving ‘many lives’ as its results come after half an hour. With RT-PCR, it takes at least 24 hours to get the report.

“We have been doing RT-PCR on patients, who are admitted in a critical condition, like those with high co-morbidity and pregnant women. The biggest virtue of this testing is early result. If anyone comes out positive, covid treatment starts immediately,” state’s nodal officer for covid-19, Dr Rajesh Bhaskar said.

The government has already provided antigen testing kits to private hospitals, who have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with it, where they can charge a maximum of Rs 250 from patients, when the health department provides them the kits. Previously, the rate of this testing was reduced for private labs from Rs 1,000 to Rs 700, inclusive of GST.

Punjab plans more antigen tests

The department plans to push the number of antigen tests to 25,000 per day by the end of this month. As per to fresh guidelines of ICMR to states, it has now been made compulsory to tests symptomatic persons, who have come out negative in antigen tests, through RT-PCR.