Amid spike, Centre urges more RATs

States told to set up rapid antigen test booths at more locations for speedy detection of the virus

India saw the highest single-day rise of 309 cases of the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus, taking the country’s tally of such cases to 1,270, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday. It also recorded 16,764 fresh COVID-19 cases and 220 more fatalities due to the viral disease.

Taking cognisance of the surge, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan and Director-General, Indian Council of Medical Research Balram Bhargava jointly wrote a letter to the States to “increase testing” by employing rapid antigen tests (RAT). The gold standard test for confirming COVID-19 is the RT-PCR. However, the RAT, though less accurate, gives results much faster.

“Based on the previous experience, it has been observed that if the number of cases rise above a certain threshold, RT-PCR based testing leads to delays in confirming diagnosis due to its turnaround time of five to eight hours. Therefore, you are encouraged to increase testing by widespread use of rapid antigen tests (RATs) in such specific situations where RT-PCR testing poses challenges,” the Friday letter notes. “ln addition to healthcare facilities, States and UTs are encouraged to engage appropriate medical and paramedical staff and to set up and operationalise RAT booths, at convenient locations.”