Gurugram health dept gets 10,000 more rapid antigen testing kits

On Saturday, the district administration deputed officials to assist health teams in areas of large outbreaks where most of the testing is being done.

Ramping up Covid-19 testing in Gurugram, the district health department procured an additional 10,000 antigen detection kits from the state government on Saturday.

Earlier this month, the district had received around 8,000 kits, most of which had been utilised. (Shankar Narayan/ Hindustan Times)

Earlier this month, the district had received around 8,000 kits, most of which had been utilised.

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On Saturday, the district administration deputed officials to assist health teams in areas of large outbreaks where most of the testing is being done. The assistance will include ensuring availability of infrastructure, security and other requirements.

The directions come at a time when social distancing norms were being flouted at test sites.

Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer, said that better management would lead to better coverage in testing. “On an average 1,000 antigen tests are being conducted daily. On Saturday, over 1500 tests were done.”

The health department is testing in Dundahera, Sukhrali, Patel Nagar, Feroze Gandhi Colony, Om Nagar and Gandhi Nagar.

Approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), antigen tests look for specific protein associated with the Sars-Cov-2 virus, the pathogen that causes Covid-19. The state health department has already placed an order of 100,000 kits with a South Korean company that has a manufacturing plant in Manesar. The new test highly specific (99.3% to 100%) — meaning a positive result on the test is a “true positive” and does not need any confirmatory test.