ICMR conducts more Rapid Antigen tests; close to 25-30 percent of total COVID-19 tests

Union Health Ministry on Tuesday, August 4 said that of the total COVID-19 tests conducted all over the country, about 25-30 percent of tests comprise of rapid antigen tests.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is reported to have conducted over 2 crore tests so far, out of which 26.5 lakh tests are antigen tests. According to the reports, the ICMR has conducted more than 600,000 lakh tests in the last 24 hours. With more than 2 crore tests done so far, ICMR reports 15,119 tests per million. 

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Rapid antigen tests

ICMR Director General Dr. Balram Bhargava said at the press briefing on Tuesday that when they had started, antigen tests comprised only 5-6 percent of the total tests being conducted but this proportion has risen steadily over time.

Dr. Bhargava mentioned that the rapid antigen detection test has very high accuracy and added that of the 11 companies which had approached for validation of their testing kits, three have been approved till now.

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On chances of asymptomatic cases getting missed out in the current testing protocol, he said after the virus enters the body, it takes about five days for the person to manifest symptoms of fever.

"Once I get the fever, we expect the test will be positive whether it is by antigen test or RT-PCR test, so both are similar from that perspective of finding a positive case. From 0-5 days, one may not have any symptoms and at that point of time, even the RT-PCR and antigen tests may be negative," he said.

The ICMR Director General further said that it is difficult to predict whether or not India will see a second wave of COVID-19 infections. He said that the situation was rapidly evolving and there have been immense variations in the spread of infection and mortality rates in different geographies and across different demographics around the world.

(Input/Image - PTI)

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