E-Paper
Punjab to up antigen testing as Covid cases soar
The Punjab government has decided to increase antigen testing citing sharp spike in Covid-19 cases in the last couple of days even as the Centre has raised questions on some states banking heavily on such tests instead of the RT-PCR method
The Punjab government has decided to increase antigen testing citing sharp spike in Covid-19 cases in the last couple of days even as the Centre has raised questions on some states banking heavily on such tests instead of the RT-PCR method.
Punjab’s virus positivity rate till the week ending April 7 was found to be as high as 7.6%.
Senior health department officials involved in Covid-19 management said so far the state had capped antigen at 10% of the total tests.
“As the state’s positivity rate is increasing and the government has set daily testing target at 45,000, we have decided to raise antigen to 25% of the total tests,” said state Covid-19 nodal officer Dr Rajesh Bhaskar.
As per the Union health ministry’s guidelines, antigen testing should not be more than 30% of the total tests.
“The accuracy level of antigen test is nearly 30% as it can show false negative results. But since cases are increasing quickly, we have to rely on antigen testing in which reports come within half an hour. It will help in early detection of cases. Moreover, if a person is found negative, we send their samples for RT-PCR tests as well,” Dr Bhaskar said.
The results of the RT-PCR testing, which has much higher level of accuracy, take at least 48 hours to arrive.
The state on Wednesday conducted 44,250 tests, the daily highest so far, with average daily growth rate of new infections in the week from March 31 to April 7 touching 1.2%.
