In a bid to ramp up coronavirus testing facility in the capital, Delhi health officials will be using rapid antigen detection test kits to conduct coronavirus tests.
The tests will be conducted in containment zones identified across the national capital. There are 242 active containment zones in Delhi. A total of 36 Red Zones have been identified in North district, 34 in South-West, 31 in South district.
The state government will use antigen test kit in the containment area. Arvind Kejriwal government has set up 169 centres across the capital to start antigen tests.
Q COVID-19 Ag detection kit
New Rapid Antigen method has been recommended by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
The ICMR has allowed the use of antigen detection kits developed by the South Korean company S D Biosensor, which has a manufacturing unit in Manesar. The kit, commercially called Standard Q COVID-19 Ag detection kit, comes with a with an inbuilt Covid antigen test device, viral extraction tube with viral lysis buffer and sterile swab for sample collection.
It has plants in Gurgaon’s Manesar. Each kit can show results within 30 minutes as opposed to RT-PCR test that takes 3-4 hours. ICMR capped the price of antigen test kits at ₹450.
Testing kits should be used for all symptomatic people with influenza like illness in containment zones or hotspots, asymptomatic direct and high-risk contacts with co-morbidities of confirmed cases, the ICMR suggested.
RT-PCR till yesterday was the gold standard frontline test for the diagnosis of Covid-19. Like RT-PCR, the rapid antigen detection test too seeks to detect the virus rather than the antibodies produced by the body. While the mechanism is different, the most significant difference between the two is time.