Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday in an antigen test. The result of the Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction or RT-PCR test to confirm the infection was yet to arrive, said officials.
“I have been tested positive for Covid-19. I have isolated myself at home as per the advice of doctors. I request everyone to please follow all the Covid appropriate behaviour and stay safe,” Deb tweeted.
West district health surveillance officer Dr Sangeeta Chakraborty said, “His (Deb’s) samples tested positive in antigen test. The samples were sent for RT-PCR test for reconfirmation.” The result of the test was expected to arrive later today.
RT-PCR is considered the gold standard of Covid-19 testing due to its high sensitivity and accuracy, while antigen tests are generally deployed for mass testing and can quickly detect true positive cases. Two members of Deb’s family tested Covid-19 positive in August last year.
The state has so far reported 33,554 Covid-19 cases, including 389 deaths, while a total of 33,069 patients have recovered from the disease, taking the recovery rate to 98.63%. The fatality rate is 1.16%, according to the latest report of the state health department.