A health worker collects a sample of a man for COVID-19 test at a centre, in New Delhi, Saturday, July 4, 2020. (Express Photo By Amit Mehra)
The Delhi government has amended the testing strategy used for rapid antigen tests, after the Delhi High Court raised the issue and asked why the government was choosing RAT, which has a high rate of false-negative results, over the RT-PCR method.
The health department deleted ‘all patients admitted with Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI)’ from the high-risk group of individuals who are compulsory required to be tested for Covid-19 using RAT.
This means that those coming with SARI symptoms to healthcare facilities will not be tested through rapid antigen test, a move which is expected to lower the number of RAT tests.
RT-PCR is considered to be the gold standard for testing, with an accuracy of 60%. Rapid antigen tests provide results within 30 minutes and has an accuracy of 40%.