NEW DELHI : In the wake of a second wave of Covid and the need to track the disease in rural areas with a sparser dispersion of laboratories, government is making the Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) a key pillar of its Covid strategy of mobile vans, 24X7 RAT booths in schools, colleges, community centers and RWA offices to make testing easier and faster.
Though the RT-PCR tests remain the gold standard of testing, the Centre sees RAT, even with lesser reliability, an impotrtant tool to improve tracking and therefore containment. While Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) aims to increase total testing capacity to 45 lakh tests a day by end of June from an average of 19 lakh on May 14, share of RAT is likely to increase three-fold from 7 lakh to 27 lakhs a day, said ICMR director general Balram Bhargava.
The Council has also approved a RAT kit for home testing which will soon be available in the market. Bhargava explained that an individual can test at home and upload a screen shot of the reading to an app to recieve a report on Covid status. The tests that are being rolled out will cost Rs 250 each but the price will vary as per manufacturer.
The change in approach is aimed at tackling the upsurge and the ingress of the infection in rural areas. RAT will not only help in early detection of positive cases, but also enable isolation to reduce transmission and timely treatment to reduce deaths.
When the first phase of Covid-19 spread was mostly concentrated in urban areas like cities and towns, the government promoted RT-PCR testing which requires around 24 hours and a laboratory to get the results.
Since most laboratories are concentrated in urban areas and the viral infection seems to be progressing — as compared to the first wave — quicker in rural setting, RAT with a faster turnaround time is seen as a feasible option. It is felt it can provide a good indicator of infection in villages and more remote tribal areas helping public health experts plan containment measures.
The government has mandated that all RAT and RT-PCR results have to be uploaded on ICMR portal.
While there was an upswing in Covid-19 cases during the second wave, testing increased gradually. In April- May, an average of 16-20 lakh tests per day were conducted with the highest 20.60 lakh samples tested on May 19, Bhargava said.
View More | Source: Times of India