Antibody testing to begin in Gurugram from Thursday; Sector 39 and Jharsa first in line

State health officials said that immediate rollout of antibody tests is crucial for surveillance of Sars-Cov-2 in hotspot districts.

The rapid antibody testing for the coronavirus (Covid-19) disease is likely to begin in Gurugram from Thursday. According to state officials, at least 25,000 rapid testing kits (RTK) procured earlier this week from a South Korean company based in Manesar, after the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) prohibited the use of Chinese kits, will be used across 22 districts in Haryana. About 1,500 kits have been provided to each hotspot district such as Gurugram, Nuh, Palwal and Faridabad.

Of the 24 containment zones in Gurugram, the district health team will be starting the antibody tests in Sector 39 and Jharsa. (HT Photo)

State health officials said that immediate rollout of antibody tests is crucial for surveillance of Sars-Cov-2 in hotspot districts. Of the 24 containment zones in Gurugram, the district health team will be starting the antibody tests in Sector 39 and Jharsa.

Rajeev Arora, additional chief secretary, health department, said, “Haryana will start antibody testing from Thursday to check Covid -19 clustering in hotspot districts and containment zones. The state will be using 25,000 kits procured from the South Korean company. Other states, too, are using kits procured from non-Chinese sources after the ICMR advisory on not to use Chinese RTKs. The Chinese kits are being returned, as communicated by the ICMR.”

“Hotspots districts of Gurugram, Nuh, Palwal, and Faridabad are getting 1,500 kits each, while Panchkula will get 2,000 RTKs. Other affected districts such as Ambala, Rohtak and Sonepat will get 1,000 kits each. Also, 500 kits will be allocated to all medical colleges in the state,” he said.

He further said that data on rapid tests is emerging and understanding of their utility for diagnosis is still evolving. “These kits will be primarily used in hotspot areas and in case there is no hotspot area in a district, it will be used to trace places which can emerge as hotspots. It is a useful surveillance tool in areas where cases have not emerged so far,” he said, adding that rapid tests cannot replace the frontline RT-PCR tests.

According to the order issued by the health department Tuesday night, at least 21% of the kits allocated to a district will be used for frontline workers such as police staff, street vendors, sanitation staff of MCG, media professionals, newspaper vendors, employees of district administration and all health care workers on field and in government offices.

Dr Jaswant Singh Punia, chief medical officer, said, “We have received RTKs and testing will start from Jharsa containment zone.”

The health team is in a rush to identify people who came in contact with asymptomatic cases reported from the area last week. It includes four health care workers, out of the nine cases reported from the containment zone. Till now, 53 cases have been reported from Gurugram, including two health staff deployed at Sector 10 Civil Hospital tested positive on Wednesday.

Antibody tests help in finding out whether a person has developed antibodies against Covid-19. A negative test does not prove that a person is free of disease. Health officials say it is likely that antibodies for Sars-Cov-2 are not present in a patient’s blood in the initial stages of the infection. The test is of utility after the incubation period of the coronavirus is over in five to seven days. It is also a useful tool to assess the prevalence of the disease within a specific area.

In rapid tests, blood is collected by pricking the finger. Using micropipette, a minimal quantity of 10 microliter of the blood is taken and collected in the well of the cassette, which is the kit. A buffer solution is added to the blood. A coloured band appears on the top section of the kit, called the result window, to show whether the test is working, while in another section lower to it a coloured band will appear to show the test result.

While using the new kits, the district health department will be following the previous guidelines prepared by PGIMS, Rohtak for antibody testing. According to the department, even if a suspected case with flu-like symptoms tests negative for antibodies, his/her swabs will be taken for RT-PCR test and the person will have to be isolated or quarantined for 10 days. Antibody tests will not be done on those having signs of Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) or on high-risk cases. Their samples will be directly collected for RT-PCR.

Earlier on April 21, the Gurugram health department had tested at least 61 people, including 30 journalists, for Covid-19 using Chinese RTKs. Of the 10,000 kits given to Haryana by the central government, Gurugram received 750.

Till now, 54 cases have been reported from Gurugram, including two health staff deployed at Sector 10 Civil Hospital and one at a private hospital tested positive on Wednesday.