Gurgaon will start antigen tests today, targets 20,000 in 10 days

Gurgaon: Beginning Wednesday, antigen tests will be conducted in the city’s containment zones. Equipped with 320 kits, and expecting to receive more in the coming days, the health department said it plans to carry out 20,000 tests by the end of June. It is targeting 40,000 tests by July 14.
“As 25 samples can be taken with each kit, we will be able to conduct 8,000 tests with 320 kits. This will be free of cost. Apart from those in containment zones, people with influenza-like illnesses (ILI) and high-risk contacts (those with comorbidities) of Covid patients will also be tested. We have trained a total of 41 people to conduct this test in containment zones,” said Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer, Gurgaon.
Nasal swabs are taken for antigen tests, and results take about 30 minutes.
While positive results are highly accurate, negatives could be false. Hence, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has said that negative results need to be confirmed with a second test -- a conventional RT-PCR one — before taking a diagnostic call.
The health department plans to create several booths for sample collection in containment zones. “We will take help from police to ensure that people in containment zones do not travel outside their prescribed areas for the tests,” said the CMO.
Door-to-door surveys in rural areas will also be conducted again, he added.
Meanwhile, the city has also started a two-day sero-survey, in which Elisa tests will cover a total of 200 people. Frontline workers, including doctors, nurses, paramedics and cops, will be tested as part of this survey to understand whether there has been any community spread.
Elisa — enzyme-linked immunoassay — is a commonly used laboratory test to detect antibodies in the blood, and is similar to rapid antibody tests. Gurgaon has so far received two kits for the survey, said Yadav.
In Elisa tests, a total of 90 samples can be tested together in a single run, according to Rajiv Arora, Haryana additional chief secretary, health. It takes 60 minutes to process a sample. The tests will be conducted in Faridabad too.