E-Paper
Rapid Antigen Tests accounts for 18% of Covid tests conducted in Pune city
PUNE As per the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), out of close to 10
PUNE As per the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), out of close to 10.98 lakh Covid tests conducted in the city, 1.98 lakh tests were conducted through Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT), which is 18 per cent of the total tests.
Dr Sanjeev Wavare, PMC assistant medical officer of health, said, “Out of the 10.89 lakh Covid tests conducted in the city, 1.98 lakh tests were conducted through RAT. We focus more on RT-PCR tests and do keep a follow up on symptomatic negative RAT tests.”
“We have kept a lower target for RAT and aim for more RT-PCR tests,” he added.
According to a reply given to a Lok Sabha member’s question, the central health ministry has listed out the proportion of RT-PCR and RAT tests conducted by states/Union territories in their overall testing.
According to that reply, in Maharashtra, almost 40 per cent of the Covid tests conducted, from March 2020 until February 9, 2021, were done through RAT and 60 per cent was through RT-PCR testing.
The local authorities continue to ignore the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) advisory to follow up on symptomatic negative RAT’s which RT-PCR tests, which is considered the gold standard for detection of the virus.
According to the reply, out of the 1.45 crore tests done as of February 9, 2021, 40 per cent of tests in the state are done through RAT and the rest through RT-PCR. Despite a higher dependency on RAT which provides faster results and is useful especially before surgeries like pregnancy or emergency, the ICMR considers RT-PCR to be the gold standard for detection of the infection.
As of February 18, the state overall positivity rate stands at 13.4 per cent as out of 1.55 crores, 20.81 lakh have tested positive for the infection, as per the state health department.
Dr Pradeep Awate, state surveillance officer, said, “I think at 40 per cent RAT tests is a good enough number. However, we conduct RT-PCR tests of those symptomatic who come negative in a RAT test. It may be said that it is not strictly followed in all cases, but we do insist district authorities to follow the norms as much as possible and keep pushing them for better implementation.”
With 40 per cent RAT dependency, the state still fares much better than other major states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Delhi which have more RAT tests than RT-PCR tests. RAT tests have often been criticised by experts to give false negatives.
Some of the states that fare well in terms of more accurate testing strategy are Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan that do have close to 100 per cent use of RT-PCR in their testing mix.
