The Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) complements the RT-PCR test and is highly useful in COVID surveillance and containment activities, the government said on Wednesday. This was informed by the government a day after the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) recommended against RT-PCR tests for healthy individuals undertaking inter-state travel to reduce the load on laboratories.
“The Rapid Antigen Test has its own place. It complements RT-PCR and conversely, RT-PCR can complement Rapid Antigen Test, wherever available. “RAT is highly useful in surveillance and containment activities, in screening people where this is a likelihood of transmission. This is a tool available to us for mounting effective surveillance activity and that still stands,” Niti Aayog member (Health) V K Paul said. At the same time, RAT becomes useful when there is such a high intensity of infection that a large number of individuals show COVID-19 symptoms, he added.
“Just as the present situation in many states and cities, where the positivity rate is high. In this situation, RAT is also a useful diagnostic test for the purpose of screening,” Paul said. It complements RTPCR, which is the “gold standard”, but in the given circumstances, it also functions as a diagnostic modality in addition to its surveillance activity, he added.
RAT has a short turnaround time of 15-30 minutes and thus, offers a huge advantage of quick detection of cases and an opportunity to isolate and treat the patients early for curbing the transmission of the virus.
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