The West Bengal government will soon start rapid antibody tests in hotspots, clusters and containment zones to identify Covid-19 cases, a top official of the state health department said on Sunday.
Interestingly, however, the results of the tests will not be revealed instantaneously even to the person, who has been tested, to prevent any panic mongering.
“The state government will start rapid antibody tests. These tests will be done in hotspots, clusters and containment zones,” a top official of the state health department said.
In areas where no Covid-19 cases have emerged so far, this test could be done for epidemiological purposes.
“Considering the limited number of testing kits and to avoid wastage of this precious resource, prior approval of the state health department will have to be taken to conduct the tests,” said a health department official.
The rapid antibody test is a supplementary tool to assess the prevalence of the disease within a specific area or perimeter. The rapid antibody test will only be of utility after a minimum of seven days of onset of symptoms
Unlike the RT-PCR, which detects the virus’s genetic material (RNA) in swabs to diagnose a current Covid-19 infection, rapid tests detect antibodies in the blood and indicate if a person has been infected in the past and has developed immunity to the virus. It can show results within 30 minutes. Once a person tests positive after the antibody test, an RT-PCR test is done to confirm the result.
{{/usCountry}}Unlike the RT-PCR, which detects the virus’s genetic material (RNA) in swabs to diagnose a current Covid-19 infection, rapid tests detect antibodies in the blood and indicate if a person has been infected in the past and has developed immunity to the virus. It can show results within 30 minutes. Once a person tests positive after the antibody test, an RT-PCR test is done to confirm the result.
{{/usCountry}}On Thursday, India received a batch of 5,50,000 rapid testing kits (RTKs) from China. The state government, however, has not provided any data on how many kits have arrived in the state.
At least 14 medical colleges and government laboratories in 28 districts have been identified, which will conduct the tests with prior approval of the state health department. In Kolkata three such institutions – IPGMER, RG Kar Medical College and Hospital and School of Tropical Medicine, have been identified.
On Saturday, the Bengal government had decided to start ‘pool testing’ of asymptomatic Covid-19 suspects to further ramp up its testing record after repeatedly drawing flak for its low rate of Covid-19 tests.